Sand isn't so bad
by ThunderStorm-8
Summary: fuu, mugen and jin are on the look out for the Sunflower Samurai. They get a tip about a colony that grows sunflowers, but have to go through a steep rocky mountain to get there! What happens when they get seperated? find out! mufu
1. Tip from a stranger

"Colony of what?"

"You heard me, that man said there's a colony of sunflower farmers living in the mountains nearby!" Fuu replied her voice was high and enthusiastic, but still held a hint of agitation at the man in front of her. It seemed like forever since they had had their last clue as to the whereabouts of the Samurai who smelled of sunflowers, and Mugen, apparently, wasn't as happy about it as she was.

"It would be wise to learn some about the mounts before we try and travel in them." Jin added in his usual, calm voice. Did anything bother this guy? Well, if anything did, it wasn't the constant bickering of his two companions. "Did the man tell you anything more?"

Fuu gave up trying to glare Mugen into an even worse mood, and turned to Jin with an apologetic sort of look. "No…All he said was that only thing he had ever heard about sunflowers was that there was some sort of town up in those mountains that grows them and sells them to the continent."

As she said this she pointed at the tree covered mountains to the east of the village they were in.

"Are you fucking kidding? Nobody could live in those things, getting in and out alone must be a hell of a deal." Mugen's observation was correct, though slightly uncalled for, the rock walls of the lumbering land masses looked steep enough too keep Continental troops out, which meant they had didn't have a chance.

Fuu doubled over when she realized the irony, her forehead became burred deep in her lap. "Ho-wr-gonafi-e sawmri nw…" Mugen and Jin took these jumbled words for "How are we gonna find the samurai now?"

"Excuse me, are you folks looking for a way to get through those mountains?" An elderly voice came from behind them. All three heads turned to see who had spoken to them.

It was an older women, the gray streaks in her hair spoke of the many years that had passed since she had been Fuu's age.

"Yes ma'am, do you know a way?" Fuu asked, her eyes wide again with hope.

"M'hm. I can show you a trail that'll take you right to the other side." She answered, slowly nodding her head. Then she bent down and in the dust of the dirt road drew a sketch of the mountains. "Follow this irrigation canal until you come to a big bolder, you can't miss it, it's huge. Once you find it keep walking left towards the mountains, at the base of the cliff you should see a break in the trees and a path leading into the mountains. It's a steep going, but it's better then trying to climb strait up."

"Will it lead us to the village of sunflower farmers?" Jin asked, of the three of them he was the only standing.

The women stood back up, looking Jin in the eye said, "Sure will, you'll come to a fork in the road, take the right turn. But don't even look down the left, just keep goin'."

"Why not?" Fuu asked.

The women frowned, and her eyes looked like they held a hint of fear. "They say demons live down that way. Terrible monsters that'll kill soon as look at you…"

"Then what'r we waiting for?" Mugen asked, he stood up, swinging his sword over his shoulder.

"Yeah! Lets go!" Fuu added enthusiastically, jumping to her feet. "We're off, to the colony of sunflowers!"

ok? How was that? . didn't suck? Anyway, all SC is copywrited at…um…the guy who drew it… sorry, just keep in mind this is fanfiction


	2. Unexpected guests and nightime partrols

Mugen, Jin and Fuu had done exactly as the old women had told them, and sure enough they found the path she had spoken of. However, they were finding that, even with this piece of advice, the going was still rougher then they would have liked.

"Ow ow ow!" Fuu whined, this was the fifth time she had stubbed her toe today, her sandals just weren't built for the rocky terrain. She looked down in despair to see that one of the straps had broke. "It would appear that this is not our day." Jin said as he knelt down to help Fuu fix her sandal.

Mugen looked on with disgust at the two of them on the ground, Jin in his perfect samurai sitting position, and Fuu on her butt, a rather helpless look on her face. 'Those two should get a freakin' room…'

Mugen wasn't sure why Jin's closeness to Fuu bothered him. Why should he give a damn which one of them she liked better? He decided to turn his head away, keeping a strait, "I don't give a tiny rat's ass" look.

'He always looks like that…' Fuu thought.

---------------

The sun was setting, and the mountain trail was slowly getting darker, and harder to navigate. Which was saying a lot, considering how difficult it was in bright sunlight.

Mugen stuck his sword into the ground a few feet off from the trail. "No use wandering around blind for the rest of the night, might as well camp here."

"I agree, too keep walking would be un-wise." Jin commented, using his sword to create a clear spot in the middle of the leaf covered ground, which would serve as a fireplace.

Fuu had wandered a little from the camp, collecting an armload of twigs and sticks for a fire. Though she was hungry and tired she was humming a tune she had heard in the last town they stayed in. Momo scurried out of her kimono, running along her shoulders and into her hair.

She smiled at her little pet, stopping to give him a quick pat on the head before continuing with her chore. "Guess what Momo? I have a very good feeling we're going to find the Sunflower Samurai this time. There's a village in the valley of this mountain that grows sunflowers!"

Momo stood up on his haunches, turned his head to the side and gave a questionable "Skwirk!" Fuu's smile widened. "Just think, I bet we can get a whole bunch of sunflower seeds for you to eat."

Hearing the words "sunflower" and "eat" together in the same sentence Momo when into esthetics, running all over Fuu, and almost making her drop her precious load of firewood.

-----

Mugen was slouching against a tree, amusing himself by seeing how thinly he could slice a large green leaf. From a couple of feet away he could hear the faint sound of Fuu laughing.

"Hey, ever bug you how she talks to that fuzz ass? You'd think it's a person not some dumb squirrel." Mugen had never liked Momo, and Momo had never liked him either. For reason's unexplained, though it might have had something to do with the fact that Momo liked flying into Mugen's face and trying to suffocate him.

Jin hummed an answer from the tree across from his. Mugen was about to snap something a Jin about letting his ass loosen up some when something else caught his attention. He jerked into proper sitting position, ears strained to see if he could hear the noise again. He didn't need to look at Jin to tell that he was on full alert too.

A snap, the cracking of a fallen forest twig, and in a flash Mugen was up, sword unsheathed, and running.

Fuu had stopped humming, having run out of song, and instead was concentrating on pickup up new sticks without dropping the others. Suddenly Momo froze, his little nose the only part of him that remained mobile, it was twitching, smelling.

"What is it Mo-"DROP!" Fuu did as the voice said, narrowly missing the silver streak of a samurai sword as her face collided with the ground. Strangely enough it sounded like something else hit the ground a few seconds after she did. She felt a hand on her arm, pulling her back up.

"Mugen what the hell?" Letting go of her he pointed to the dead body of a wolf which lay less then a meter from where she had been, blood poured from a slash in it's stomach. Fuu gasped, unconsciously taking a step closer to Mugen's side, further from the wolf.

"D-do you think there's more around?" She asked, he could hear the nervousness in her voice, her head kept turning to look into the many dark gaps between the trees.

Mugen didn't answer, keeping his sword loose in its scabbard he squatted down and scooped up the pile of firewood Fuu had dropped.

Fuu stared at him, still expecting an answer to her question, angrily she bent down to get the one's he missed. 'Why can't he ever just answer? Would a simple: There should be, or I don't know; be too hard? Jeez…'

As if hearing her thoughts Mugen said, "Where there's one wolf, there's usually a pack." While they walked back to camp.

"She had hoped he wouldn't say that.

----

Jin wasn't surprised to hear of the wolf, and after checking that Fuu was alright, suggested that they take turns staying up to watch incase anymore try to get into their camp. Mugen took the first shift, Fuu second, Jin would be last, then they would start over again.

Fuu wished she had packed more food before they left. For dinner they had each eaten one dumpling, and a handful of mushrooms they found growing on the side of the trail, and her stomach was feeling unnecessarily empty. 'Guess it's better then nothing…' She thought as she drifted to sleep, curled up close to the fire. They weren't close enough to the mountaintops yet for it to be uncomfortably cold, but sleeping outside without a blanket was never pleasant.

Mugen looked back and forth between the moon and the treetops, when the bright orb got to the tip of their tops he could wake up Fuu so she could watch. He estimated it to be a couple of half-half-hours, but since his math was terrible it was closer to 2 hours.

He turned his eyes from the annoyingly slow crescent moon for a moment to scan the perimeter. He didn't need his eyes that much, his ears were better, but he needed to look at something else before he went crazy. For some reason his eyes rested on Fuu, she was sleeping, one of her arms tucked in close to her chest, the other under her head, making for a better pillow then the ground. It was weird, but for a few seconds he couldn't bring himself to look away.

'Feh.' He thought, must have been too long since his last lay if he was looking at her. It annoyed him greatly, but during the next two hours in eternity he had caught himself looking at her four times. He was about to take his frustration out of the tree next to him, when he noticed the damn moon had finally escaped from behind the trees.

'Yeah!' He thought in triumph, he stood up, walked over to where Fuu was sleeping, and put his hands on her shoulders, giving her a gentle shake. Her eyes opened just a little bit, then he yelled in her ear, "Wake up!" She jumped, banging her head into his. "Gah!"

"You baka what was that for!" She yelled back at him, while she rubbed the spot on her head that had collided with his chin.

Glaring at her he said, "Just shuddup…" Then returned to his tree, mumbling something about, 'Damn jumpy women…'

Fuu glared back at him for a few seconds, then sat up strait, keeping her eye's peeled to all directs of their 'forte.' To make things less frightening she was imagining they were in one of those books, the kind where too groups fight, each trying at least once to ambush the enemy during the night while they slept. She imagined herself as the leader of their band of renegades, Jin was her First General, Momo, her second in command, and Mugen, the prisoner they had captured the day before.

Her plan was working pretty well, but she still wished the moon would hurry up and get to the middle of the sky faster then it was. Getting board with the scenario she had created, he leaned her head against the back of a moss covered tree, the damp plant felt good, like a pillow.

Trying very hard not to fall asleep she decided to focus on other things then her stomach and dreamland. In her head she made a list of all the better things to think about. 'Let's see, there's rocks, and leaves, and tree's and the fire, and Momo, and Jin, and Mugen.'

Her face scrunched at the thought of purposefully thinking about Mugen. Sometimes she just couldn't stand him, but a bodyguard was a bodyguard. She sighed, turned her head to the person in question. He was sleeping, she knew he wasn't faking, he could never have looked that peaceful in his waking hours. She meant just to glance at him, but somehow found herself staring at him instead.

Daring to move a little closer, she studied his face, his eyes were closed and there was a small gap between his lips. One of his hands rested on his sword, which he lay across his knees. She wondered if this is how he always looked when he was asleep.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand on her back. Turning her head she saw it was only Jin and she let out a breath of air. With a look on her face like that of somebody who had been caught in a sinful act she retreated back to her chosen bed spot. Jin had seen her staring at Mugen!

'Not like it makes any difference, that guy still bugs me! Even if he is kinda cute when he sleeps…' She thought as she tried to fall back asleep, a blush still lingering on her cheeks.

Twada! Another chap. The next one will be longer, think of 'em as harry potter books, if u line them up, they get a little bigger each time

Ps, somebody asked, does m/f mean mugen/fuu, yeah it does . happy r&r'ing!


	3. Small Musings

Morning came again without incident, and the trio was on their way again. As they got higher Fuu began to notice how pretty it was, even if she did hate the rocks. The path was lined from side to side as far as the eye could see with tall trees, which cast large patches of shadows on the ground. Birds were singing from every corner, and she could hear bugs buzzing, with their heads in the flowers that were scattered every which way. If she weren't so exited about getting to this strange sunflower valley she would have picked a few.

The skinny dirt trail ran mostly at a steep upward climb, but sometimes it would turn sharply to the left or to the right and twist around for a bit. It was a very nice day, or, it would have been, if they weren't hungry, tired, and thirsty.

Momo had decided to ride atop Fuu's head, something he didn't normally do, but the little squirrel was just as excited about this unusual setting as Fuu. She could feel him turning around in circles on her head, trying to get a good look at everything from all directions.

For some reason Mugen decided to throw his head over his shoulder and see how the other two were doing. Jin was behind him, his head down, as if her was in the middle of a walking meditation. 'Bah…' He thought.

Then he looked a Fuu, and noticed that that little fur ball was on her head. Where did she keep him anyway? "Hey, isn't that pain the ass usually asleep this time of day?" Fuu gave him a defiant look. "He's excited cuz I told him we're going to be getting some sunflower seeds soon."

Mugen made a noise like a snort. "You really think he understands that?" "He understands it better then you do!" "You little bitch!"

Jin sighed, trying to drown his companion's argument in his thoughts. For some reason the flowers on the trail remind him of Shino, and he couldn't seem to get her off his mind now. He had lost track of how long it had been since he had last seen her face, all he knew was that it was way too long.

His thoughts drifted to the night he first met her, the moment he first saw the sad, desperate look in her eyes… The first time he had ever seen her she was standing on a bridge in the rain, thinking about what would happen if she suddenly jumped in. Later she confessed to him that if he hadn't walked by at that moment, she would have fallen to her death.

His thoughts trained on with ideas and memories similar to these, thoughts of how in three years he would go back, and they could live their lives together in freedom. Thoughts of what they would do with this freedom.

Jin looked up a few minutes later to find that Mugen was fighting a loosing battle against Fuu and Momo. As usual Momo was on his face, Fuu sat on his chest, her hands pressing down his shoulders. Both were apparently attempting to suffocate him. "Take it back!"

"No pfay bitsh!" He yelled back threw Momo's fur.

"Take it back!"

"No!"

"Do either of you remember what it was he's suppose to be taking back?" Jin asked, he was trying to keep himself from smiling. He was sure that if they knew how funny they acted sometimes they'd stop having these pointless arguments.

Mugen and Fuu stopped their struggles against each other to look at Jin. "He said he'd eat Momo when I was asleep." Fuu answered, some of her hair had fallen out of it's bun and was dangling in her face.

Jin raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think your squirrel is smart enough not to be eaten by him?" Fuu thought about this for a second, the smiled widely, and pulled Momo from Mugen's face. "You're right Jin, I forgot."

"Hey! I'm smarter then that dumb ass chipmunk! He's just too damn slippery!" Mugen rebutted, throwing Fuu off him, she landed with a loud 'thump!'

Before Fuu could yell back at him Momo jumped out of her hands and began flying off away from the trail. "Momo!" Fuu yelled as she stood up and ran after him, disappearing into the forest.

Jin and Mugen eyed each other with a look that said, "you have got to be kidding me", before they too ran after Momo.

"Momo! Wait!" Fuu cried in vain, hoping that she would not loose her friend to her lack of speed. Not paying much attention to where her feet were going, it came as a great surprise when she found herself skidding downwards and landing with a spash into ice cold water.

Mugen and Jin were not far behind, but unlike Fuu they did not fall in the brook.

Momo was sitting on a rock in the middle of the water, making a noise that sounded strangely like laughter. After standing up and ringing out the bottom of her kimono Fuu took Momo back into her hands, giving him a little hug. "Who's the dumb ass now?" She asked. "See, he found water for us. Weren't you just complaining about not having any?." Fuu stated triumphantly.

"You sure he didn't just want to see you fall on you're rump?" Mugen asked as he glared at Momo.

"Chir chir chir!" Momo barked at him, showing his disliking of the rogue samurai. Mugen growled back at him.

Fuu just smiled at Momo, giving him a pat on the head. "When we get to the village, I'm gonna buy you a whole year's worth of sunflower seeds." The squirrel forgot about Mugen and proceeded to jumping between Fuu and Jin's heads, all the while making happy, hungry chittering noises that only a squirrel with high hopes could make.

Fuu wiped some water droplets from her face with her sleeve. A cool drink was just what they had needed on that hot day. Then a thought struck her. "Do you guys know how we get back to the path?" Mugen spit out a mouthful of liquid.

"No need to worry, I marked the trees with my sword as we ran. Following them backwards should be easy." Jin answered. Fuu let loose a breath of relief. Trying to find their way back would have been hard, Momo had lead them pretty far off the trail, and had taken a few sharp turns.

"That damn rat almost got us lost in these stupid mountains!" Mugen yelled, now confirming his plot to eat Momo. Fuu threw her shoe at him, hitting him squarely in the head. "OW! What was that for you bitch!"

"He's a squirrel not a rat you dumby!" "I don't give a rat's ass what he is, that thing pisses me off!"

Jin sighed. "My swords for a moment of silence…"

-----

After spending an hour taking a break at the brook they were on their way again, refreshed, cool, and in Mugen's case; wet. Jin was being serious and silent, Fuu was happily playing with Momo, and Mugen was slinking behind them. Not all too pleased at how Fuu had gotten revenge for him yelling at her.

He was glaring at the back of her head, annoyed that she could looks so happy, even from behind. She kept laughing, and it was driving him crazy, nothing could be worse then that sound, and nothing should be this…nice? He almost gagged, realizing that when he stopped thinking about how much he was suppose to hate her, he enjoyed watching her. He started to notice little things about her he hadn't seen before.

Her hair would bounce slightly as she walked, sometimes her feet would slip off the edges of her sandals for a step, and she'd stumble the tiniest bit.

'Gah! What the hell's wrong with me? Stop looking at that bitch!' He yelled at himself. This was really starting to tick him off. That was the second time in one friggin week! 'You are a murdering, non-caring, free guy.' He told himself. 'You don't stare at women with breast's two sizes too small, and you do not get urges to reach out and catch them because they're klutzes and happen to fall a lot!'

"Huh? Look'it that!" Hearing Fuu's voice he snapped back to reality, actually looking around for what ever had caught her attention. He saw a large rickety looking bridge, and figured that must be it. It was at least a minutes worth of walking, the planks served as a way to cross over a crack in the rocky foundation that was probably caused by some ancient earthquake.

Fuu put one foot on of the old wooded boards, just to test it out. It squeaked, and she quickly drew her foot back. "You don't think we having to cross? Do you?"

Mugen gave her a tap in the middle of her back with the point of his scabbard. "Yeah we gotta cross, and you're going first."

"Me!" Why me?" Fuu asked, her voice frazzled from fear.

"Because it was your idea to come this way." Jin answered, startling them both. Fuu was sure he would argue otherwise, as had Mugen. "But-!"

"You heard the man." Mugen said, giving her another nudge with his sheathed sword, this time pushing her onto the wooden walkway.

"Ah!" Fuu cried in distress, clinging onto the well-worn rope edges the held the bridge together. "You guys are so mean!" She threw a look of disgust at them, sticking her tongue out. Then, going back to the task at hand she gulped quietly, deep in her throat. Putting one foot in front of another, both hands on the rope railings, she inched her way to the other side.

"That bitch isn't gonna get to the other side by sundown…" Mugen commented, watching for his lazy sitting position on the ground. Jin thought about humming back an answer like he always did, but changed his mind. "You go next then."

"Fine by me. Bet you a drink I can get there in less then thirty seconds." Mugen said with confidence. "It is a bet." Jin answered, with equal confidence.

A few minutes later Fuu plopped down on the nice solid ground, yelling at Mugen and Jin to "get their asses over here", because when they did she would hurt them for making her go first.

Mugen was halfway across, running of course, when his acute sense of hearing informed him of the sound of ropes tearing.

He paused, looked back and saw that the ropes were beginning to separate, their old fibers coming apart. "Aw fuck it." He picked up his pace, but even his speed wasn't enough, the bridge snapped in half before he got within jumping distance, and the two broken ends of each half fell into the waiting mouth of the crack.

"Mugen!" Fuu cried, looking over the edge to see if he had caught onto something and was still holding on. She could see a red blob a few meters down, knew it was Mugen and let out a sign of relief.

"You can climb up on your own right?" She hollered down to him. "What do you think!" He barked back, climbing upward wasn't a big deal, but he had no idea which one of these steps would break off, sending him careening downward.

Jin stayed silent through the whole ordeal, and only spoke when Mugen made it back up to high ground. 'Now what…' The wheels in his brain turned, new thoughts popped into his head.

After checking that Mugen was ok, and giving him a whacking over the head for scaring her, Fuu yelled, "Hey Jin! What are we gonna do! You're stuck on that end!"

He smiled a little at her words. "Yes, I know that! The two of you should continue on, I'll go back to the town and see if there is someone who can fix the bridge so you can come back this way!" "OK!" She answered back.

Jin turned to go back to the village, then, stopped. He had gotten a sudden brotherly urge to tell Mugen that if he touched Fuu he would kill him. But instead he settled with saying, "Mugen! You owe me a drink!"

"You bastard, it wasn't my fault the damn bridge went out!" Jin just chuckled and turned to walk back the way they had been going for almost two days.

When he was out of site Fuu looked over at Mugen, he was straitening out his cloths and muttering something about 'damn bet' and 'gonna kill him'. As she watched his movements she came to the realization that this would be the first time she would be spending time with Mugen alone. Before there was always Jin, or a town full of people, but now they were completely and totally alone…together…

Her first instinct was to be wary, watch out for his hands and stuff of that sort. 'Naw, that's stupid. Mugen only goes after women with really big boobs.' She signed quietly. 'Really pretty women.'

This made her sad, and the fact that she didn't know why she was sad made her angry. Sticking out her lower lip in a pout she tried to figure out why it would matter to her. 'It doesn't make any sense, I mean, he's a total jerk, he's completely reckless and irresponsible. And most importantly he hates me, and I hate him.' She momentarily turned her head to look at a flower, just barely halfway in bloom. 'Don't I? Doesn't he? No, stupid. Obviously he does!'

"Yo, you just gonna sit there all day?" Fuu turned back to him, yelling "I thought we were waiting for you to stop pouting about loosing your bet!" "I wasn't pouting bitch!"

She closed her eyes and walked off on the path, back into the deep cluster of the forest. "Whatever, are you coming or not?" She said, as if _he_ was the delay.

"Why you…." He grumbled as he turned to follow behind her into the wilderness.

---

They hadn't talked once since they had left Jin, and the silence was starting to get uncomfortable and lonely. Fifteen minutes was a long time after all…

Mugen was leading now, his steps fell farther apart then hers, so he bypassed her easily. Momo was asleep, as he had finally running out of energy. So Fuu had nothing to do but look at the scenery. However even the continuous beauty of the forest got boring after a while, nothing really changed about it. The tree's were either tall, short or still babies. The flowers only came in twenty colors and shapes, and the birds kept singing the same sweat songs over and over again.

One thing had changed though, the trail and become steeper, now it was more of an upward climb then a slanted walk. She was thinking about trying to count all the yellow flowers they passed, but before she could start her eyes fell on something more interesting; Mugen's sword. It was strung across his back, the hilt positioned so he could reach back and grab it in an instant if needed.

Not like Jin's, he keeps his at his waist, like a true samurai. 'But Mugen's not a true samurai.' She thought. 'Wait, what kinda fighter is he?' She pondered on this thought for a while, trying to remember names of fighting styles, and which one's sounded like what Mugen did. Maybe she would ask him later where he learned to fight like that.

While she thought she observed the markings on the hilt of his sword and the scabbard, and the other things about him. She noticed how his hair just seemed to stick out on all sides in every direction, she was sure he didn't do anything for his hair, but how could it just naturally do that?

Her thoughts paused when she noticed a scar on the back of his neck. It was long, and paler then the rest of his skin, and trailed down into his shirt. She shivered a little, wondering where he had gotten it, if it had been with her, or before they had all began their journey. She made a note to ask him about that too.

To her embarrassment he chose that moment to look back at her. "Ey, whats that look for?" She snapped out of her thoughts, blushing slightly, she answered with a nervous smile, "Oh! Nothing." He gave her a clearly annoyed look, his eyes narrowing. "Whatever, it's getting late, so start lookin' for a good place to stop."

Fuu looked over at the place where the sun should have been but saw that while she was absorbed in thinking about Mugen, 'That sounds so weird…' at least a few hours had passed. That, or maybe time just went by faster in the mountains.

It took then a while, but they had found a place before it had become too dark. A nice little place nestled between three large boulders. Mugen left Fuu in charge of getting a fire started while he went out to look for something to eat. Much to her displeasure she had only been able to conger up a small flame, not the cackling fire she had hoped for.

A cool breeze blew in through the gap between two of the boulders, which served as a door. Fuu shivered, and pulling her kimono higher on her shoulders she tried again with the spark. She blew on it, she added more wood too it, but the little fire just wouldn't get any bigger.

Mugen came back with a dead rabbit's ears between his fist. He found Fuu huddled next to the feeble flame, her head on her knees, and a look on her face that spoke of defeat.

"What's you're problem?" He asked in a gruff tone, though he already knew she was down about failing to make a proper fire.

Fuu stuck her tongue out at the pile of ashes. "It just doesn't want to make a fire…It wants to stay a spark."

"Jeez, that all?" He put the rabbit down on a rock, then he picked up two big leaves adding them to the fire. It took them a few seconds to catch on fire and burn, and between those two seconds he added a small stick to the collection. The little spark jumped onto the stick, having run out of leaf to burn. In less then one minute he had a fire big enough to cook their dinner on.

Fuu's eyes widened in amazement. "How'd you do that?" She asked, her head turned so she wouldn't see him skinning the brown rabbit.

"It's easy idiot, you just have to give it some reason to spread out, let it know you're not trying to trick it somewhere there ain't anything burn." He answered as he held the rabbit meat on the now thriving fire, skewered by his sword.

Fuu thought about what he had said for a while, something she didn't usually do, since he hardly ever said anything that needed thinking over.

She was brought from her thoughts once again, this time by a sword full of cooked rabbit shoved in her face. She reached out to take a piece, but when her fingers clasped around the hot meat she quickly drew them back. "Ow!"

With tear droplets hanging in her eyes she sucked on her two burning fingers. "Idiot!" He yelled at her, he couldn't stand how helpless she was, it gave her a reason to depend on him.

------

Jin was eating a fish he had caught, in a place little farther then from where they had made their first campsite. The silence of not having two other companions was satisfying, but he did miss the company.

"I wonder how those two are getting on. Let's just hope they don't kill each other before Fuu gets a chance to see that sunflower village." He said to himself, then continued chewing.


	4. For a fish

A warm golden sunlight kissed the tips of the great evergreen tree's of the mountain, and the birds sang of a new day. Fuu and Mugen, however, managed to sleep right through this peaceful morning. Fuu woke up when her stomach growled at her, hungry for breakfast.

She rubbed her eyes as she sat up, blinking at the bright sunlight that was shinning in her eyes. It had to be at least nine in the morning. Groggily she looked over her shoulder at Mugen, who lay in the same place she had left him in last night. Far away from her.

Then she looked the other way, expecting to see Jin too, but she remembered that they had had to leave him behind the day before. As she stood up, shaking the leaves and dirt from her kimono, she wondered what he was doing just then, and whether he had made it out of the mountains already.

----

Jin had woken up in time to see the sunrise, his usual waking hour. Now he was far down the path from his campsite, walking at a reasonable pace. After all, he wasn't in any particular hurry, he didn't expect the other two to return within that week. Not because he had no idea how far away this sunflower village was, but because he knew their constant bickering would slow them down considerably.

"It does seem odd." Jin wondered out loud. "The two of them on an adventure all of their own."

There was no doubt in his mind about Fuu's feelings for Mugen. Obviously she cared a good deal about him, much in the same way that he himself cared for her. Only with a very different intentions. He cared for Fuu the way he would have cared for a little sister, but a feeling told him that she cared for Mugen the way he did for Shino. However there was no telling whether she really loved him, or had any deep attraction to him.

There was also no denying that Mugen cared, even if just a little bit, about Fuu. After all, he had come to her rescue more then a few times. Sure, it was his job as her 'body guard' to protect her, but there wasn't really anything that kept him from just running off. There was no gain for him, no pay, and probably no reward after they found this 'Samurai of the Sunflowers.'

From what Jin knew of Mugen--which sometimes was a little too much for his taste--this was unlike him. If he didn't care at all, would he really help her just because of a promise? Was it was because she was partly responsible for saving their lives that one day? Could a man like that have such faith in returning favors? Jin shook the thoughts from his head, not wanting to waste any more brain cells on this problem.

"Perhaps the answer would come before this whole thing is over."

----

After stirring the fire a little with a nearby stick, Fuu decided it would be better to go out and try catching her own breakfast then to attempt waking Mugen up so he could do it for her. She scrunched her nose as he gave another loud snore, his hair now full of leaves.

With Momo's help she found another river, this one was fast and the water gushed by in an almost threatening manner. It was freezing, having come from melted snow higher in the peaks of the towering landmark. But this didn't slow her down, she was convinced, _determined_, to prove she wasn't useless.

It hadn't really occurred to her how she was going to go about actually catch a fish, she just knew she was going to do it. When the realization of her predicament came to her she got depressed. She didn't have a fishing pole, or even a net. She put her head down on her knees, defeated, but when her face collided with the material of her kimono she got an idea.

Momo chatted at her from a nearby rock as she removed the bottom half of her kimono, leaving herself standing with the top half of her garment covering most but the tips of her under-wraps. She turned, smiling at him. "I can use this as a net, all I have to do is stand in the river and wait for a fish to get swept into it!" She said as she stepped out into the stream of ice water.

When her foot hit the freezing water she gasped, not expecting it to be so cold. A shiver went up and down her spine, and her legs became goose-bumpy. But she just glared at the water, letting it know that it could get even colder if it wanted to, but she was going to get her breakfast whether it liked it or not.

At first she couldn't see anything through the mist that was thrown up as the fast moving water crashed against the rocks. But after a while she could see that there were sometimes big silver streaks in the water every so often and she knew they were fish.

----

Mugen woke up from his sleep shortly after Fuu left. However, his stomach wasn't the reason of this sudden waking. A large pinecone had fallen on him. He blinked in the late morning light, rubbing the spot on his head where the offensive object had so cruelly landed. It took him a few seconds to realize that Fuu wasn't there, though he had a right mind to blame that squirrel for the wake-up call.

His first instinct told him to go get food, but he ignored it, walking over to the spot where Fuu had been last. He studied the ground for any signs of a struggle, any chance she hadn't just wandered off. There were none.

He threw a few more small logs onto the embers of last night's fire, the coals still burning red. "Feh, she's probably trying to take a bath or somethin'…" He knew she'd be back soon.

But she didn't come back soon, she had been gone for longer then he liked to count, and doing all this waiting made him cranky. "Damn that bitch, where is she?" He got up, brushed the dust from his shorts, and started walking in the direction of Fuu's footsteps. Deciding that it would be better to look around for her, to 'see what that idiot was up to'.

---

Fuu had been trying for almost an hour with no luck at catching even a tiny fish, and now she couldn't feel her toes. Then, she saw a perfect catch, a large silvery fish that looked like a salmon, swimming right her way. This time she wouldn't let it get away, she spread her kimono as far as she could, holding it down with her feet too. She her eyes on it, watched it swim towards her, then, just as it was inches away, she swooped down and grabbed it as hard as she could with her arms. It's silvery scaled body was caught tightly, rolled up in the bottom of her kimono.

"Yeah! I caught I caught it!" She yelled in triumph, walking as quickly as she could to shore. But as she got closer she started to loose her balance. In panic she threw the fish as far as she could onto the shore, but in the effort she lost her footing completely. So as her breakfast hit dirt a ways into the bank, she hit water. She screamed, the cold water went over her head and for a moment she thought she was paralyzed. Then she brought her head back up, the water had come up almost to her waist, now as she sat it was up to her neck.

Shakily she stood up, stuttering. "S-s-so c-c-c-cold." When she made it to shore she checked that her fish was still there. It had wiggled itself a little closer to the water then it had been when she threw it, but it was still there. She was shivering like crazy, and she could feel a sneeze coming on. She pulled the edge of the top half of her kimono closer on her shoulders, which didn't do much, since they were wetter then she was.

Mugen and heard two yells in the last minute, one was happy and the other was not. But they both belonged to Fuu. He ran in the direction her head heard them, and as he got closer he could hear the sound of rushing water. As he burst through the trees into the clearing around the river back he spotted Fuu, shivering a drenched. When he got closer her noticed that a good portion of her legs were showing too.

Though he hated it, the sight of her bare legs, shiny from the sun reflecting off the droplets of water, made his stomach do something weird. "What the hell?" He asked as he got closer, scaring her out of her goose-bump covered skin.

She looked up at him, and was frightened at first, but then she saw it was only Mugen. Reaching behind her she picked up the fish, who wasn't struggling as hard anymore, and held it up in his face. She was smiling.

In his brain Mugen put two and two together, and his amazement at her being able to catch a fish without a net or a pole soon turned to anger. "You risked your life for a fish!" He yelled, didn't she understand it was more important to live then to eat? 'Probably not.'

She got angry too, angry that he hadn't congratulating her on her big success. She put the fish down and stood up to challenge him. 'Who does he think he is, yelling at me like that for something so stupid.'

"I didn't risk my life, I cau-ca-achooo!" Her words were lost in a sneeze, and she broke into a fit of shivers again. Another weird feeling came to Mugen, watching her shivering like that. He didn't like this one either.

He pulled his sword from its sheath, and skewered the fish so it wouldn't go anywhere. Then he picked up the bottom piece of her kimono, folded it messily and plopped it down again on top of Momo. She watched him in silence until he approached her, reaching out his hand to remove the other half. She shrieked, pulling back from him. "You pervert!" She started to yell, her hand out like she had slapped him.

"You can't stay in those damn wet cloths, just take it off." As he said this he shoved his red shirt in her face, turning his head the other way with a 'damned if I care' look. Fuu looked at the shirt, then back up at Mugen. She blinked a few times, then took it from his hand.

He remained facing the other way as she took off her last piece of clothing, leaving her standing in nothing but her bottom and breast wraps. She didn't put on the welcoming piece of clothing right away; first she held it up against her face. 'So warm…'

When Mugen turned around she was trying the ends so that nothing of her butt showed. He was surprised to find that it was pretty big on her. After all, he wasn't more then a few feet taller.

His pride had told him not to look while she changed, but something made him want to. He convinced himself it was just his animal instincts.

Mugen thought she would be find once he got her into dry cloths, but she sneezed again, and her cheeks were pink. "Damn, you didn't get yourself sick did you?" She snuggled herself deeper into his shirt, pulling the neck up higher, and nodded a no.

Despite her assurance that she wasn't he put a hand on her forehead, his large fingers completely covered it. If she looked up she could see the edge of his hand. "Don't have a fever." He said gruffly, quickly removing his hand. Her cheeks had turned a darker shade, and something told him it wasn't from a cold.

Momo flew onto Fuu's shoulder-having found is way out of Mugen's trap-, nudging in to her neck, hoping to help warm her back up. However, he didn't do much about Mugen, which was very strange.

'What's his problem…' Mugen wondered, Momo hadn't given him his usual greeting. Which included angry chatter, teasing him on his lack of ability to fly, and plastering his body over Mugen's face so he couldn't breath. Instead he just clucked once at him, then turned back to Fuu. 'Heh, maybe that fur-ball got sick too.' He thought happily.

As they trooped back to camp Fuu thought about what Mugen had done. She knew his womanly habits, many of which insulted her, a few of which disgusted her. However, he hadn't done anything to her. She had been sitting there, wet, half-naked, and vulnerable, but all he hand done was offer her his shirt as a change of clothing and ask if she was sick.

She sighed, thinking the only possible explanation was that she wasn't pretty enough to waste the time on. 'Of course…they're too small.' She looked down at her breasts, though she was only fifteen they hadn't grown quite as much as she had hopped.

She held up her hands in front of her face, they were wrinkled from the long period of water activity, and worst of all they were cold. But the ends of his sleeves came down over top of them, so they were beginning to warm up again. A breeze blew past them, lifting the edge of her makeshift dress so that she had to pull it back down again. When it was gone she hugged herself, great, now she was cold again.

The warm rays of sunlight that flooded the forest didn't help much. Partly because as the two walked they didn't stay in one spot long enough for much of it to soak in. The other part being that they were now far enough into the mountain pass that the temperatures were naturally colder.

Fuu was glad to see that the fire was burning anew, and imminently sat down in front of it. Holding out her hands to the flames that flickered back and forth amongst the dying pieces of wood that remained of the logs Mugen had put on before he had left to go look for her.

While she sat there she wondered if now would be a good time to ask Mugen about the scar on his neck, or maybe his fighting style. A look at him out of the corner of her eye told her it would be best saved for another time. The unreadable expression on his face made her think twice about asking him.

She turned to her wet garments, they would need to be wrung out and laid somewhere to dry. 'Aw man…that could take all day!' She didn't want to loose a whole day's travel because of breakfast, and it was probably ten in the morning already.

Suddenly another chill went down her spine, and she was sure it wasn't from being damp. She had a feeling Mugen was watching her, and it felt as if his eyes were piercing into her head from behind.

Mugen hadn't said a word to Fuu since he had found her. What the hell could he say? He wanted to yell at her for being so stupid, for just walking off on her own, but most of all he wanted to know what made her do it. What was she thinking? Didn't she think he would have gotten them something to eat when he woke up? He shook his head in exasperation while he hacked at the fish. 'I'll ask later. Bitch probably has brain chill or somethin' right now.'

After he had put the pieces of fish over the fire he looked over at Fuu, she was laying out her kimono on top of one of the large rocks that surrounded their hide-away. She had taken her hair down, and it made a wet ring around her shoulders. He had never seen her hair down before.

The water droplets that had dripped slowly from her brown locks made a wet spot on the back of his shirt. 'Great…now I'm gonna be wet too…' Then a weird thought occurred to him. Would his shirt smell like Fuu now?

He turned away from her, instead scowling at the roasting pieces of fish. What did he care if it did? 'I don't even know what she smells like anyway, so it won't matter!' To emphasize the point he gave their breakfast an extra scowl, and let it cook a little longer then needed.

Fuu nibbled on the slice of fish Mugen had handed to her, while trying to ignore the fact that he had cooked it a little too long. "So how about we keep going after breakfast?"

"Don't you mean after lunch? It's almost noon stupid." Mugen said through half a mouth full of fish.

Fuu's mouth twitched almost noticeably at his crude words. "Whatever, the important thing is that we don't waste a whole day just sitting around."

Mugen didn't answer, he just kept chewing. Then Fuu noticed something she hadn't before, and the sight made her laugh, almost chocking on her piece of fish. Mugen looked up with a 'what the hell' look. But this new look just made her laugh harder.

"Damn it, what the hell are you laughing at?" "Y-your hair! It looks like a bush with all those leaves and twigs in it." She said through several different fits of giggles. Mugen's left eyebrow twitched.

"So what if I've got shit in my hair, it's no different then yours!" He shot back angrily, not getting the humor she had seen in this new 'hair style.' Fuu wiped a small tear from the corner of her eye, and looked up at him inquisitively.

"What's that suppose to mean? I don't have anything in my hair."

"Yeah you do, those chopstick things." Fuu reached into his shirt and pulled out the objects in question, holding them up to his nose. "These things?"

"Of course those things." Mugen answered loudly. He wasn't used to this kind of behavior from her, it was almost like she was trying to play with him. Whatever it was he absolutely, positively, completely…liking it? No, he didn't like it, he hated it, it was obnoxious.

Fuu was about to explain that those were for decoration and put in purposefully--where-as leaves and twigs usually were not--but she didn't get her chance. Momo interrupted by flying onto Mugen's head and covering his eyes with his little furry body, leaving his mouth free.

"Gah! You damn rodent!" Mugen yelled at Momo while he chirped away randomly in Squirrel. Fuu used his moment of temporary blindness to change back into her still damp cloths. So that when Mugen finally succeeded in pulling Momo off his face, she was standing before him with her legs covered again. In her outstretched hand was his shirt, folded, and damp to it's own extent.

At first he looked at her uncertainly, wondering if he should bother mentioning that walking around in a damp kimono might really make her sick. A few seconds of thinking later and he reached forward to take his shirt back from her. Then put it back on, slinging his arms through the sleeve holes.

"So you wanna start now?" He asked, trying his hardest to laden the words heavily with a 'could care less' tone.

Fuu took another big bit of bone depleted fish. "Yuf." She answered before swallowing. "Right after _breakfast_." Putting extra emphasis on the word breakfast.

"Fine." Mugen said as he stood up, kicking a foot-full of dirt onto the cooling embers of the campfire.

----

Once again they were walking in silence, with only Fuu's humming and the buzzing of their surroundings to let them know they weren't deaf. Mugen had taken the lead again, and was trying his very hardest to drown out the sound of her voice.

'Damn…why does she have to do that…It doesn't even sound like a real song.' He thought about turning around and yelling at her to stop, but before he could he saw something that made him come to a complete stop.

Fuu's nose bumped against Mugen's back, his abrupt stop caught her off guard. "Mugen? What'd you stop for?" She asked as she regained her balance, rubbing her nose for dramatic effect.

"Oie, you said somethin' about this town being in a valley didn't you?" "Yeah but-" She didn't finish her sentence, the sight had silenced her.

Before then lay a cliff, the sides were uneven due to the large boulders which made up it's walls. It reminded Fuu of the stairs she had seen in Edo, but much, much bigger, and much rougher and without order. And it gave off a look that sent shivers up Fuu's back, shivers not caused by cold or wandering eyes.

"We have to down climb that?" She exclaimed, staring with wide eyes as the path descended down into the tangled mess of rocks and tree vines. The women had said the going would be ruff, but wasn't this just a little extreme? From the height they were at now it looks like at least a three-day climb, and she couldn't even see the village.

"What do you think idiot?" Mugen answered sarcastically, this would be a good chance to train his balance. "Obviously the trail's got the easiest way down picked out for us already, we just gotta follow it."

So without a further word he jumped down to the nearest bolder.

The trail ran in between the rocks, and sometimes, where there wasn't a gap, they had to really look to find it again. Besides that they didn't really have a difficult time climbing. Well, Mugen didn't.

"Ah! Slow down!" She whined as she cautiously lowered herself down a particularly large rock onto the unsteady surface of another.

Mugen turned around once again, he was a good three meters ahead of her and this was the second time he had had to slow down. "Damn it! You're so fucking slow…" He complained, wishing that Jin and his positions could be switched.

"It's not my fault you're a samurai and I'm not!" Fuu shot back over her shoulder, but the effort of yelling made her slip. However the rock she was trying to get to was only a few inches below the bottom of her sandals, so the fall didn't do much more then scare her.

When she turned around Mugen was walking again, and she would have noticed that his pace had slackened, if not for the pain in her hands.

To be continued! .

squee! Thanks for all u'r great reviews, and don't forget to check at :paintbrushplushi. for Mugen/Fuu fanart (coming soon!) which may or may not reflect this fic . tehehehehe


	5. Don't want him to leave

Hi peoples! Here's the next chappie, another great thanks to the reviewers and readers .

I'd like to suggest a great mugen/fuu song: gravity by Shawn McDonald is sooo perfect for them, u can totally picture them like, having an anime music video dedicated to this…if they had more cute moments in the anime! Smacks self over the head "just shut up and get to the story lady…."

They had been climbing for hours, but time seemed to move so slowly that those hours could have been compared with days. Though it wasn't part of his usual style Mugen had slowed down considerably for Fuu. He wondered if she noticed.

They didn't say a word while they walked, since they both really had nothing to say. Well, nothing that they could dare put into words.

Fuu fought hard to ignore the pain that she got every time her hand slipped on one of the rough rocks, tried not to look at her palms. She hated this feeling of weakness, that simply climbing down a valley side could draw blood from her palms. Luckily her earlier swimming excursion didn't have any affect on her, in the hours they had been making their way slowly down to the nearest flat point she had only had to sneeze once.

She tried hard to cover that up too, if catching that fish hadn't convinced Mugen she wasn't useless then she would prove it by not complaining until they got back with Jin. Besides, what if he got fed up with her? What if he left?

Fuu remembered the first time Mugen had taken off on her, not just escaped to a brothel, but really left. That night, without him or Jin around, she almost died. But they did come back for her, they always had.

'Would he come back this time?' This new question scared her, and she made herself walk faster, feet falling with a much quicker step.

While Fuu was lost in her thoughts Mugen was busy with his own--which, for him was sometimes a rare thing--he was trying to figure out how long it would take if he let her go at this current pace. The way he figured it, the only way to speed up the traveling would be to carry her on his back, something that was out of the question. 'Feh, why should I even care? The longer this damn thing takes is all the more I don't have to put up with that Jin bastard.'

In the few times he had chanced a glance back at her it made him feel weird to see her struggling against those rocks. Another feeling he despised, especially because he didn't know what this one was either. However, when he turned to her this time he was a little shocked to see that she was closer to him that she had been before.

Either he had slowed down or she had speed up. Though he didn't say a word to her about it, and tried to shrug the question off his mind, he wondered which possibly was true.

Mugen looked up at the patch of sky that was now perfectly visible thanks to the gap in the forestry created by the valley. The sky was turning a light shade of yellow, and the sun was slowly making it's way to the stage in the sky where it gave it's daily performances.

As he turned his eyes away from this natural phenomenon he saw a good placed to rest for the night, and it wasn't more then a half-hour's worth of climbing away. "Hey! We're gonna stop there." He said to Fuu, pointing at the somewhat flat spot on the valley wall. The ground of which stuck out much more then the rest, and it was even on the trail.

Fuu didn't say anything in answer, too afraid her voice would give away something. She just kept walking, using her hands to keep her balance against the narrow pathways and uneven ground.

----

Mugen's prediction of how long it would take then was strangely off, instead of just a half-hour it had taken almost two. So that when they finally stopped the sun was well beyond the reaches of the trees and the stars were starting to come out.

Without stopping to sit down Mugen reach out to pull a fistful of dead-looking tree roots mixed amongst some vines off the wall rocks around them. He busied himself with making a fire, the temperature's were slightly warmer here then their previous height, but it was still getting chilly.

While he did this Fuu sat down for the first time since that morning, her feet hurt, so did her legs, but none of it could compare with the burning feeling and the heat that was coming from her palms. She looked back up the mountainside, wondering how far they had traveled, how much farther they had to go.

Usually silence would have been fine with Mugen, but for some reason all it did tonight was annoy him. And he was all too aware that she hadn't spoken to him once in the last four hours, not even to complain about something like her 'feet hurting' or that she 'was hungry', nothing.

Finally he could stand it no more, and he broke the seemingly endless period of silence. "Damn it, what the hell are you so quite about all of a sudden? You sad we had to leave you're lover behind?" Mugen asked as he finally succeeded in igniting two pieces of root into a flame. Picking a subject that he was sure had been on her mind recently.

Fuu looked up, her head had been on her knees until he had spoken to her. "He's not my lover you jerk!" She barked back angrily. Then she got a look like she had just swallowed a bug, and slunk back again. Her face betrayed a feeling of guilt.

"Then what's wrong with ya? Loose your tongue somewhere?" His glare on her was intimidating, and it almost frightened her.

'He asked, he can't be mad, he _asked you_.' Fuu was fighting with herself, if she showed him now it would ruin her day's work at keeping quiet. Finally she decided just to saw nothing. She flashed him a nervious smile, keeping her hands well behind her back. "I'm just hungry!"

"Bah…figures…" He said, leaving the conversation at that he turned back to the fire, his temper still up there. Though they really had nothing to cook. Somehow he knew that her sudden change in behavior style wasn't due to the emptiness of her stomach.

He lay down on his side on one of the flat spots near the fire, not wanting to pry into the issue any further that night. Mugen made up his mind to ask again tomorrow night, because something inside him wanted to know what she was hiding.

Fuu was just settling down on her side of the fire when she heard Mugen speak again, she thought he was already asleep so the sound startled her. "Hey, you should think about leaving your hair down more often."

She didn't look at Mugen, she was turned the opposite direction from him, which was good. Because it meant he couldn't see her blush, couldn't hear the new volume of her heart. "It makes you're ears look smaller." Fuu just barely stopped herself from throwing her sandal at his head, from yelling curse words at him, from telling him he was a jerk.

'Hah, bitch, now I know there's something fucked up with you.' Mugen thought triumphantly in his head. The normal Fuu would have thrown something at him, probably called him a jerk and yelled.

----------

The next day was spent much in the same way, climbing in silence, but on empty stomachs. The other difference was Mugen was walking almost side by side with Fuu. Or, rather, he would have if the narrow passage had allowed it. Never the less he was stayed close enough so that if he wanted to-which he did not-he could reach out and grab her hand.

Fuu tried not to think about this little fact, tried not to believe he'd slow down for her. The only time there were any words passed between them was when Fuu's stomach gave a loud growl for nourishment. She wished it hadn't, but was relieved when his followed shortly afterwards with an even louder reply. "Guess we should find some food…"

Fuu nodded in agreement then looked around to see if there might be any mushrooms growing on the rocks. To her great disappointment she found none. "But where? I don't think there's a single edible thing around her for a couple of miles."

It was at this moment that Momo choose to stick his furry head out of Fuu's kimono, exposing himself to Mugen's hungry gaze. "You sure ya don't wanna eat him?" He gestured at Momo with his finger.

Fuu's face held more expression then it had for the past two days, and she yelled, "We're not eating Momo!" Mugen smirked a little at her reaction. "Really? Cuz he looks just right for roasting."

In answer she plucked Momo up, holding him tightly to her chest. "No way, absolutely not!"

"Fine, then I hope you don't mind root dumplings." Mugen answered smugly.

Fuu held back a sigh, wishing they had a bow and arrow so they could get one of those crows that kept flying overhead.

It seemed like this was the first time Mugen saw the crows too, because he looked up, staring at them as they flew round and round. 'I wonder…'

"Come on, I bet if we keep climbing we'll get to the bottom soon, and chances are there's lots of things to eat down there." She was right, the bottom was close, they could see it now, and it wasn't just a sliver of green in an endless sea of boulders either. While she said this she started walking again.

Mugen soon forgot about the birds, he was now more interested in trying to guess how long it would take her to realize that she was the one leading.

However it appeared she never noticed, or she didn't do anything about it, because they stayed in that order until much later that day when they were getting ready to stop again for the night. But she was conscious of the fact that now she walked in front of him, setting the pace of their journey.

This thought made her walk faster and it meant she had to be careful to keep her hands in front of her, or on a rock, so he wouldn't see. But the wear and tear of the day had taken an even worse effect on her then yesterday's had. Now instead of just raw and soar they were starting to bleed, having been scraped a number of different times when she lost her footing.

What she didn't know, was that even though she had kept her wounded palms hidden from him he still saw every misshapen steep, every slip, and every time he got that same damn feeling in his chest. 'Damn…'

When they finally found a place to stay for the night Fuu looked up at the sky, and smiled for the first time that day. The sunset was wonderful, the colors so amazing, so vibrant, it was like a masterpiece artwork. Only instead of having to pay a lot of money to see it in a gallery, the whole world could see it for free, everyday.

In this moment when she stopped to look at the sky she had absentmindedly laid her hand down on a smooth rock beside her. When the rock touched her abused skin a shot of pain made her bit her lip, it was either that or scream. As quickly as she tried to recover she wasn't quite quick enough, Mugen had seen the temporary look of pain on her features.

When she lifted her hand there remained a bloody print directly beneath it and he put two and two together.

"Oy, show me you're hand." Fuu looked up into his eyes with a look of shock and disbelief. How could he have known? When she turned her eyes away, she saw the betraying blood mark that had been left by her palm. Slowly, almost timidly she lifted her hands, both were bloody and raw.

One of Mugen's eyebrows raised up, and he continued to stare at her until she began to feel uncomfortable. "Sit down." He commanded, his voice so full of force that she couldn't help but obey. The fire that burned in his eyes scared her, she didn't know if the rage she saw was for her or not.

He knelt in front of the shallow rock she sat on, his head came up to her chest, and he had no difficulty reaching out to take up one of her hands. Examining the pink skin, the bloody scratches. "You complain about your feet the whole time we walk, but this you don't say a word about?" It made him angry that she hadn't done anything for her hands.

Fuu thought about what would happen if she didn't answer, thinking he would be angrier with no response, so she spoke. "I didn't want to say anything because I thought your hands were probably scratched up too, and if I made u mad then…" Her explanation had been rushed, the words tumbling over each other as they came out of her mouth, and it was hard for Mugen to catch all of it. She knew she must have looked terrible sitting there, checks flushed, trembling slightly with embarrassment.

The next sentence was much clearer, and whispered. "Jin's not here to make sure you stay."

After a small silence Mugen made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort. 'You idiot.' Something about her words made his chest do something funny again. 'Man, these things are getting old…' He thought, his anger now directed at the small flutters that had been going in and out of his stomach all day.

Then Mugen took the edge of her pink kimono between his fingers, tearing it. He intended to use the torn material as a bandage, even if there wasn't any water to wash the scratches with he could at least cover up those raw-rubbed palms.

"Hey! My kimono…" Fuu protested, still not sure what to think about Mugen's actions. This wasn't what she had expected at all, was he actually going to take care of her again? Her heart began beating like it had last night.

"Aw shut up, the shorter your dress the easier it'll be for you to keep up." He said gruffly as he began wrapping her other hand. Some soft-guy part of his brain told him to regret those words. He knew she had been trying hard for the past two days to be faster. 'Hell…that's probably what got her hands busted up.'

It didn't take him more then a minute to get the first hand wrapped. At first Fuu winced, the constant contact on her skin hurt, but eventually she got used to the feeling.

Used to the feeling of Mugen's ruff finger's brushing over hers too. She was almost sad when he put down her right hand and took up her left, knowing that when he finished with that one she would have to forget about that feeling.

Mugen put extra strain on the last knot, then let her hand free. At first she didn't move it from where he had left it in the air, but she decided it would be weird just leaving it there. So she placed it back down on her lap near the other. Neither moved for a while, Fuu was all too aware that Mugen was still staring at her hands, but her thoughts were too jumbled to do anything about it.

When she finally managed to open her mouth, "Thank you." was all that came out. Mugen didn't reply, instead he lay down close to her feet. This action confused her too, and she wasn't sure what to do.

There wasn't a fire tonight, just the light provided by the full moon. In that light she could see Mugen's eyes were closed, but she knew he wasn't asleep yet. His breath wasn't right for sleeping.

She knew she had to sleep too, so she lay down in the opposite direction of him. They must have looked like some kind of weird Ying-Yang, laying there with their head's and feet pointing completely opposite directions. The vines and small stones under her back didn't make the most comfortable of beds, but she had slept on worse.

Then a thought occurred to Fuu, if her hands had been beaten up with all this climbing what about his?

She sat up on her elbows so that she could look him in the face. "Mugen?" "What?" He answered, his voice not as ruff as it had been a few minutes ago.

"Aren't you…aren't your hands hurting too?" He almost chuckled, her question was so stupid, and asked so innocently. "No."

She sat in the same position, thinking about this. "But, those rocks are so jagged." Mugen realized he wasn't going to get her to shut up unless he talked a bit first.

"See for yourself." He held up his right hand, the light from the moon lit it up perfectly, and it was scratch free. Seeing the questioning look on her face he let out another snort, and Fuu thought she wouldn't get anything more out of him that night.

But a few minutes of silence Mugen reached back, and picked up her right arm, holding it in the air. Putting his other hand in front of hers and said, "There's a big difference, in hands that haven't done much-" Here he gave her a poke in the middle of her palm, she winced. "-and hands that have done work meant for hands twice their size."

Fuu turned her eyes again to Mugen, there was a weird look on his face. "So working hard makes hands more durable?"

"Something like that. They get ruff after years of it, fighting too." He turned her hand, as if he wanted to inspect it from another angle, the white skin contrasted with the pink cloth he had tied around it.

Fuu was starting to feel sleepy, her hunger and tiredness were ganging up on her at the same time, causing her eyes to droop slightly. In this sleepy state she asked another childish question, "Why's that?"

Mugen could hear the need for sleep on her voice, and when he looked out of the corner of his eye at her he saw that her eyes were closed almost halfway. The black lashes could almost brush the edge of her cheek.

"Cuz they gets bruised and blistered. When the blisters go away they leave a harder layer of skin; it cracks, and it's ruff. Sometimes it feels like sand, too bad some people can't stand the feeling of sand. " Mugen smiled bitterly at these last words, not even conscious of the fact that he was still holding her arm up anymore.

For some unanswerable reason Fuu felt a streak of pain go through her heart. She realized it was pity and sadness for Mugen. 'Some people can't stand the feeling of sand…' She wasn't exactly sure what she wanted to say, but whatever it would be would have to wait for her to figure it out.

There was a long silence, Mugen wasn't sure if he wanted to let go of her arm or not, so it almost made him jump when he felt it go limp. "Eh?" He turned his head back to look at her again, this time she really ways asleep. As her fingers began to slip town to his he tightened his grip.

This action was unusual, and strange to Mugen, he wasn't even really sure why he was doing it. Then, as if realizing the error in this 'soft' action, let go. Her arm dropped down beside her head, probably not a usual sleeping position, but if he moved it that would go against his principles.

'Bitch…' He thought, disgusted with himself and the mushy hour he had just wasted. But he soon drifted into sleep as well.

----

Meanwhile, Jin had made it back to the village from a few days ago. He arrived some time in the afternoon, and his first objective was to find a job. He had wandered around the streets of the small mountain-side village for a few hours before he found a restaurant that would hire him.

As he sat on the edge of the bed-mat in the room he was renting, cleaning his sword, he thought again of Shino. The second time he had seen her had been at an unagi stand, where they had spent the rest of that day cooking. The same thing had happen to him again today, only instead of an unagi stand it was a restaurant, and instead of cooking in the company of Shino he had done it with the aged owners.

With a sigh he put down his sword, the edge of which had been freshly sharpened so that it would easily cut through flesh, and turned his head to star out at the moon. The light it have off from its silvery edges shone down through his window, resting on his pale face.

'What are you doing now Shino?' He wondered. 'Are you happy? Are you still waiting?'


	6. She just kept smiling

. next chappie:I don't own Champloo or anything about it "with the exception of the characters u'r gonna be meeting in this new chapter":

This time it was Mugen who woke first. He could smell the early morning scent, could feel the soft touch of the dim sunlight, and very much wished he were still asleep. 'Damn, it's too fucking early…' He complained to himself. Then he felt a warm puff of air on his face, a warm puff of air that smelled lightly of over cooked fish. .

Not remembering yet all of what took place last night he opened one eye, and was surprised to see Fuu. 'What the…' Then it came back to him, and he moved his eyes to where her hands lay, now pressed together in loosely closed fists. The makeshift bandages he put on them last night were still there, still protecting those hands.

Had she really put up with that just so he wouldn't desert her? 'Heh, that stupid idiot's worried about getting kidnapped and forced. Like there's anybody in these damn mountains besides those sunflower people.' Mugen thought, suddenly grumpy with her.

'What if it wasn't because of that?' Something in the back of his mind argued with him. 'What if she wants you to stay because she likes having you around?'

'What the hell do you know? Damn guy in my head…'

Trying to block out what his inner-self was saying he concentrated again on watching Fuu, and the sight left him a little mesmerized. Her lips rested ever so lightly on the backs of her fingers, and she had turned on her side during the night to better accommodate the arm he had misplaced. The morning sunshine gave her an almost heavenly look, and he found it hard to tear himself away.

Then, his stomach let loose a loud rumble--having not been feed in almost two days--and to his own horror Mugen found that he was worried the sound might wake her. But she did not stir, with the exception of the loose pieces of hair which were blowing in the morning breeze.

'Might as well go looking for something to eat, maybe I'll catch one of those birds from yesterday.' He thought as he stood to leave. Once he was well out of Fuu's possible hearing range he extended his arms to the sky, and let out a loud yawn/moan. A good stretch was just what he needed after sleeping on such a bumpy bed.

Momo poked his head out of Fuu's kimono to admire the new day. And after a thorough look around to make sure there were no predators or Mugens running about he climbed out onto her head. He sniffed the new air, to the left, and then right. Next he licked his paws and washed the fur on his head, smoothening his grey coat.

"Chir?" He squeaked down at Fuu, wondering why she wasn't awake. A tiny rumble came from his stomach too, and remembering Fuu's promise of sunflower seeds he began to prance back and forth on her head in an effort to wake her up.

Fuu's eyebrows furrowed, then her eyes opened to the bright morning light. "Momo?" She asked sleepily as she turned over on he back, only to find her small friend perched upon her nose. "Chir!"

She giggled when his pink tongue came down on her forehead to give her a good-morning lick. With one hand she pushed herself up, with the other she took hold of Momo, placing him down in her lap.

"Momo, I had a weird dream. I dreamt that Mugen was taking care of me, it was really strange, because I've never seen him act that way." She looked up at the left over clouds from sunrise. "I think he was even being kind of romantic, 'cuz after he treated my hands we laid down opposite from each other and he talked to me. Not the way he usually does, but the way Jin does when he wants to be really nice."

Momo blinked up at Fuu, then took a piece of the kimono from her hands in his mouth and gave it a tug. "Huh?" Fuu looked down, and blushed pink, there or her hands were the same bandages she had dreamt of.

"It wasn't a dream then…" She whispered, staring down at the pink make-shift bandages on her hands. "He really did do that." "Chir!" She took Momo's comment for a 'yes.' 'Some people can't stand the feeling of sand' His words repeating in her head made her feel sad.

It was then that Fuu noticed that Mugen wasn't around. His sword was gone too. "Mugen?" Fuu called out to the empty valley. "Where could he have wondered off to?"

The ground wasn't flat, he could be just around the next bolder for all she knew, there was no need to panic. A small stray rock rolled past her, and her stomach knotted painfully. What if he was hurt? Samurai skill won't help a person against a rock fall.

No, she would have heard something like that, and she definitely would have heard him calling for help if he was. Wouldn't she?

Fuu stood up, Momo clutched a little too tightly in her fingers. With one hand she climbed on top of a rock nearby. Her balance wasn't very stable, and she had to let go of Momo so she could keep herself from falling over. She kept turning her gaze in different directions, but there was no sign of him.

As her lips parted to yell his name again she heard another voice blast in her ear. "Hey! What the hell are you doing up there!"

Relief swept over her like water, seeing him standing below her in one piece. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm climbing a rock you dumb ass!" She yelled back at him, the anger in her voice was betrayed by the smile on her face.

Mugen stared up at Fuu, her feet were at his shoulder level, and he had to lean his head up all the way to see her face. She was smiling. "Yeah? Well you can get your ass off of there by yourself for all I care!"

Why did that smile make him feel so…warm?

It was then that Fuu noticed the bundle in his shirt, a particularly pokey-looking bundle. "Did you find food?" She asked, on cue her stomach grumbled too, making hers the third stomach to protest the food shortage that day.

He reached into his shirt and pulled out a small, white mushroom. "You could say that." He said as he waved it back and forth.

Fuu knew he was teasing her, and she wasn't about to let him get away with it. She kicked off her shoes, and sat down on the un-even top of her tall perch. "See, I don't need your help." She said as she jumped down to land un easily on the ground.

"Ep!" She cried as she felt her foot collapse underneath her and her body tilt backwards. Sure that the next thing she'd be feeling was the hard ground and the pain in her ankle, but instead she felt two strong hands grab her by the shoulders. Mushrooms spilled over the rocky valley dirt.

Fuu found herself looking up into Mugen's face as he steadied her back on her two feet, his eyes were shielded by their usual impenetrate-able walls. She could tell he was trying not to look at her.

"Next time you wanna climb a rock, make sure you can get down first." He said, his voice ruff, as he let his hold on her go. Fuu laughed un-easily, in her head desperately hoping she wasn't blushing. "Maybe I should have kept my shoes on."

Mugen gave her a last look, then bent down to pick up the mushrooms he had dropped in his rush to catch her.

Fuu knelt down to help too, but nearly dropped them again when she saw Momo leap onto Mugen's wrist and start nibbling on one of the mushrooms in his hand. Mugen must have been surprised too, because he stopped in mid-reach to stare at the small creature as it filled it's cheeks with chunks of the small white fungus.

"Gee, I thought Momo hated you." Fuu said after a couple of seconds in silence passed by. As she said this Momo jumped down from Mugen's arm, and perched again on a nearby rock.

"Feh, that little bastard just wants the food." Mugen said as he plucked up the last two from the ground. Fuu popped one of them into her mouth, shortly after making a small face of disgust. "Momo, you have bad taste in mushrooms."

---

It was now nearly noon and the day had worn on without anything new. They had finally reached the bottom of the valley and were trying to find the trail again until…

"Alright!" Fuu cried out happily. "I can see smoke! As in a campfire, or a town!" Mugen turned his head lazily in the direction she was pointing.

Sure enough on the eastern horizon he could see a cloud of grey smoke puffing into the blue sky. "So you wanna go that way?"

Fuu turned her head back to him, giving him a 'what kind of question is that?' look. "Of course, why not?" Mugen hopped down from the rock he was standing on and came to stand next to Fuu. "How do you know that's a village's fire."

Fuu thought about this for a minute, her eyebrows furrowed with concentration. Then she flashed him a big smile, and answered with a spring in her voice. "Guess we won't know until we find out will we?"

Mugen gave a snort, mentally trying to beat off the effect of her cuteness with a stick. It wasn't going well. "We nothing, I'm gonna check it out first." Fuu blinked twice at him, her mouth slightly open. "But Mugen…"

He started walking again, his direction turned to the smoke. "Hey! Come-on you're not just gonna make me wait here are you?" "That would be the idea."

Fuu furrowed her brows downward in annoyance, and trailed after him. "What makes you think I need to stay behind?"

"Cuz if it's a bunch of bandits you'll get in my way." "I would not!" Just then Mugen heard a rustle in the bushes, his senses perked, and he could feel the adrenaline start to seep slowly into his movements. Another noise came from the right side of the bushes.

"Shut up." He said, keeping his eyes fixed on every new breaking twig and sound. He had stopped walking, Fuu noticed this. "Mugen whats-?" "Shut up." Whatever it was, was coming closer. "Muge-" Mugen turned around, staring her in the face. "Damn it I said shu-aaa!"

He was interrupted by a wave of pain in his shoulder, Fuu screamed seeing the arrow burst twice threw his skin. "Mugen!"

Mugen turned forward again, his face twisted with pain and annoyance. "Damn it." He didn't time to pull the arrow from his shoulder, at that moment three masked men jumped from the bushes, all of them wielding samurai swords.

In one quick movement he un-sheathed his sword and jumped to meet them. Blade hit blade again and again, but neither party could get a clean swipe at the other. What surprised Mugen was that he was having a hard time killing these bastards.

Droplets of blood spun from the wounds on the front and back of his shoulder blade, and the stalk of the arrow moved painfully each time he moved. The man on the right was coming in for a low swing, Mugen would have to flip to get out of it.

But when he tried to get his right arm to move it would not. "What the hell?" He had to use his left arm, just narrowly avoiding having his body cut in two, only to block another attack from behind.

Meanwhile Fuu watched on with fear in her eyes. 'Mugen…' The arrow had pierced strait through him, the head was sticking out of his chest, the feathers out of his back. 'Damn it, I said shut up! 'That's what he was going to say.' She thought.

Every clank that came from the metal of the four swords colliding hit her hard, and when she saw Mugen falter in his steps it hit her even harder. This was her fault, he was hurt because of her.

Finally Mugen got an open swing at one of the samurai, slicing him upward from the stomach. The man spit out a mouthful of blood, then crumbled backwards. His companions stared at their fallen comrade's body as it twitched, then fell still. Mugen used this moment of shock to cut down the remaining two, both fell beside the other.

Mugen, breathing hard from the effort of the fight, fell to his knees in exhaustion, his sword clanking at his side. "Mugen!" Fuu cried, running out from behind the tree she was hiding behind. "You're hurt!"

He reached with his left hand to pull the arrow from his shoulder, but Fuu stopped him. "Let me do it, you can't pull it out yourself. Its gone completely through." Mugen turned his head towards her, feeling her hand on his. Her face was so close to his, their foreheads almost touched. The slow loss of blood combined with the pain were dimming his sight, but he could still see that her eyes were watering over. "Fine." He said, removing his hand from her grasp.

She reached down for his sword, using the blade to cut off the head of the arrow. Mugen winced with the slight movement of the arrow pressing against the bone of his shoulder.

Fuu switched positions, she was now behind him. Grasped the end of arrow in her right hand, bracing her left on Mugen's back. "Just hold still k?" "Whatever."

A loud yell range though the valley, causing the birds to flee from their woodland perches. "Fuck!"

Fuu smiled, and in her most cheerful voice said, "That wasn't so bad was it?" Mugen rubbed his shoulder blade, annoyance clearly written on his face. "Evil bitch." He muttered under his breath.

"You shouldn't do that." She said, indicating that he was spreading the blood around on his shirt. When Mugen heard a ripping sound, he looked over his shoulder and saw Fuu was tearing off another section of her kimono. "What the hell are you doing?"

She just kept smiling, avoiding his eyes. "Like you said, easier walking that way." His gaze on her softened for another unexplainable reason as he watched her small hands at work. "Take off your shirts, I can't patch you up with them on."

Mugen reached up to pull off his red shirt, but when he remembered his right arm wouldn't work he stopped. "Mugen?" Fuu called from behind him, her voice was unusually soft. "What's wrong?"

Mugen muttered something under his breath again, Fuu could barely make out the words 'damn, weak, and fuck it'. "I can't move it." "What?" "I can't move my right arm damn it."

Another hurt went through Fuu's chest, realizing that he was more hurt then she had thought. "Want some help?"

He pushed himself up, using a nearby tree for support. "Na, it's no big deal, just a puncture." Fuu grabbed his arm as he tried to walk. "It is to a big deal! You can't even _move _your arm and if you keep walking without bandaging those wounds you could bleed to death!"

Mugen looked down at the hysterical girl who stood clinging to his arm. He really didn't want to put up with this, medical treatment just wasn't his thing. But, the look in her eyes, that strange pleading look, made him fall prey to her wishes.

"Fine, but make it quick. If more of those bastards show up I might have a harder time killing 'em." In a quick movement with his left hand he had his over shirt off, or, rather he had it stuck over the right side of his head.

Fuu suppressed a giggle as she helped him out from the silly predicament, and out of his white shirt as well. "When we get to the village, I bet there'll be a doctor there who came look at your arm." She said, gently wrapping the shred of her once full length kimono around his shoulder blade.

It was a weird feeling, but every time her skin brushed against his she felt a small jolt go through her. Not like the ones of pain she had felt earlier during the battle, these were nice.

"Ok, I'm done. Want some help with your shirts again?"

Mugen gave her a death glare, pronouncing that he didn't 'need her help for anything worth shit' and picking up his laid aside cloths started walking forward into the valley forest. It was almost dark when they discovered another cloud of smoke close by amidst the trees. They could hear voices too, voices of people going about the last of the days chores.

"I think it's safe this time, common, I bet this is the village we've been looking for!" Fuu picked up her speed and broke through the brush into a vast clearing. Her eyes almost watered with tears of happiness to see a town again. Because where there is a town, there are people, and where are people, there are people who can cook.

However she did not have much time to enjoy this welcoming site, because almost the moment she placed her foot on the grass free ground of the market place was she surrounded by a horde of sharp objects. "Wha-?"

It was at that moment that Mugen joined her out in the clearing. Gave one look at the frightened looking village men who were holding their various pitchforks and rakes at Fuu, and got a burning feeling in his stomach to kill each and every one of those pathetic little farmers.

"What the hell you guys think you're doing?" He asked, his left hand inching towards the hilt of his sword.

One of the smaller men raised his pitchfork to Mugen's throat, the ends were shaking heavily from his jitteriness. "W-w-we know who you are, so just c-come quietly and there won't be any t-trouble." "But, this is the first time we've been to this village, what did we do to make you all so mad?" Fuu asked.

Mugen snorted as he stepped defensively in front of Fuu. "Whatever, is this the flower village or not?" One of the men opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by another voice.

"YOU IDIOTS!" All five men cringed at hearing the loud voice of their Lord. "What the hell are you doing?"

The same man who had stood up to Mugen, obviously the bravest in the group, answered him. "These two just popped in from the forest Lord Kimo. They could be Blackbirds."

Lord Kimo held his face in his large brown hand, shaking his head in dismay. "Can't you see one of them is a woman? It's known perfectly well that the Blackbirds have no women members." The Lord motioned with his hands for the weapons to be lowered, and only when the sharp ends had been trust into the ground did Mugen remove his hand from the hilt of his sword.

Kimo looked Mugen and Fuu over, then gave them a look that could have been interpreted as apologetic. "What is your business here strangers?"

"We're looking for someone, and for a doctor." The Lord raised his eyebrow. "I know everyone in this town, perhaps I can help you in your quest for this someone. As for a doctor, he have but one." Fuu's eyes light up, and she asked, "Can you tell us how to get there?"

"It is fairly easy to find, it is the last house at the end of the market place. You will see a large blue banner out front." "By any chance would it say doctor on the banner?" Mugen asked, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "As a matter of fact it does. Now, this person you're looking for, are they a current resident here?"

"I'm not sure, the only thing I know of them is that they smell of sunflowers and that they're a samurai."

Kimo shook his head. "I am sorry, but I know nothing of this sunflower samurai."

Mugen could tell Fuu was disappointed, but she smiled instead. "That's alright, thank you for your assistance." Lord Kimo gave a stern glare at his men before turning his eyes back to Fuu. "It is I who should apologize. We are currently having a problem with a gang who likes to ruin our crops and steal our money."

"I'm sorry to hear about that, we should probably get going, but if my body-guard can help you out let me know." "Hey! You can't sign me up for charity just like that bitch!" Mugen protested as they turned down the pathway which Kimo had described. "And I'm not seeing no damn doctor." "Yes you are."

"No, I'm not!" "Yes you are!"

And so it continued until they found themselves at the foot of the village doctor's home. Fuu grabbed Mugen's left arm and pulled him through the door. "Hello?" She called to the empty waiting room.

"Just one minute! I be out in moment." Answered the accented voice of what sounded like an older Dutch woman. Fuu and Mugen exchanged glances of confusion as the small, round and brown haired elderly lady stepped out from behind a curtain which lead to another part of the house.

"My name is Eseme. How can I be helping you?" She asked, eyeing the new visitors to her shop. Fuu pointed at Mugen's right arm, bare from not having put on his shirts again. "He got into a fight on the way here, an arrow pierced his shoulder and now he can't move his arm."

The short woman circled once around Mugen, inspecting his arm and the slightly bloody bandage covering the punctures. Her old eyes seemed to understand exactly what was wrong only by looking at him. "Hm…Yes, I'll be needing to examine him, if you will step into back room?" She lead the way into the new room, her footsteps falling heavily.

Fuu looked around at the well lit medical room, there were many shelves lined up on each wall. All of them were stuffed with books, bottles, and other vials full of different ointments and herbs. While she was staring at the different objects in the room the woman made Mugen sit down on a bench and was moving his right arm in various directions.

"You crazy bitch, stop doing that!" Mugen growled at her, the pain from his wounds was still fresh, and every movement sent a jolt of pain through his body. "Hm…" Was her answer.

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" Fuu asked as she looked on.

"Potty mouth has dislocated his shoulder." "Can you fix it?" "Of course, just have to put it back in."

Mugen gave them both a 'you have got to be kidding' look, very much annoyed over this whole experience. "And how ya gonna do that old woman?"

She gave him a wake on the head with the back of her wrinkled hand, then turned to Fuu. "I will be needing your help, if you would push on left arm while I re-connect right arm job go much faster." Fuu nodded, moving to sit beside Mugen on the bench, putting her hands on his arm. "Just tell me when." "Hey! Don't I get a say in this?" Mugen complained, he had a bad feeling about this.

"Do you want to never use arm again potty mouth? Then be shutting up soon." This seemed to take an effect on Mugen. "You will experience some discomfort but nothing too extreme." She said as she grasped his right arm firmly. "Now girlie, push on you're side." "K."

Less then three seconds of applied pressure and Mugen had had all he could stand. "What the hell are you doing!" He growled angrily, 'some discomfort' was a great exaggeration. "The shoulder joint must be pushed back into the arm socket for it to move again."

While Mugen argued with Eseme over different ways for an arm to get back in it's own socket Fuu was feeling guiltier then ever. It was her fault that Mugen had to go through this, she couldn't understand what it must feel like to have somebody re-connect a part of your body.

In a desperate moment and on the verge of tears Fuu flung her arms around Mugen's neck and clung there. He stopped mid-sentence and froze as if he didn't know what to do. While Mugen was trying to formulate some kind of response to this Eseme pushed and before Mugen could struggle she had finished.

"There, potty mouth, that was not difficult yes?" Fuu removed her face from Mugen's neck to look at Eseme. "Now, I'm going to wrap arm so that you can't move it. You should not be moving for…two weeks at least, must give it time to heal."

"Say what?" Mugen asked, his voice a little subdued, much quieter then it had been before. "You hear me just fine." She said as she tied the last knot, leaving Mugen looking like one forth of a mummy. "Little girlie I want to be speaking to you outside. Potty mouth, do not be touching anything or I will make you into something for my collect, eh?"

Fuu released her grip on Mugen and followed Eseme out the door back into the darker "waiting room". "I can tell by the looks of you that there is no money with which to be paying me yes?" Eseme said, getting strait to the point.

Fuu's checks turned a funny shade of pink. "Yeah, I'm sorry but we don't have anything to give you."

Eseme studied Fuu for a minute, then asked. "What if I give you job here? You work for me until two weeks is over, I make sure you're samurai is taken caring of, and you get place to stay."

Fuu's looked into Eseme's eyes with a hopeful expression on her face. "Really? That would be great!" In celebration Fuu hugged the shorter woman. "You like doing that a lot don't you girlie?" Fuu blushed again, the hug she had given Mugen played back in her head, and she saw how ridicules it must have seemed.

"So, are you two hungry?" Eseme asked once they had gone inside and re-joined Mugen. Who had received a hard smack over the head for fiddling with a bottle of what looked like pink medicine.

Eseme must have seen the answer coming, for when the two burst out in unison two slightly different versions of the word 'yes' she remained calm.

TOOO BEEEEEEE continued .


	7. the Jinless chapter poor jin

A very full Fuu was standing outside of Eseme's house on the porch, looking up at the night sky. She was leaning against one of the polls which held up the roof, thinking about all that had happened since she had gotten up much earlier that day.

Momo was inside, sleeping, so she had no one to talk to. 'That Lord Kimo guy didn't know anything about my father, but maybe somebody else here will.' She sighed, wondering if they had come here all for nothing. A cold breeze blew past her, and she wrapped her arms around herself instinctively. 'Why are valleys so cold?' She asked herself.

Meanwhile Mugen was sitting with Eseme, slurping down his tea. The older women was looking out the doorway at Fuu. "Hey, potty mouth boy. If I were being you I would take better care of mine woman ."

Mugen nearly choked on his mouthful of hot water. "First of all old hag, that's not my woman. Second of all the name's Mugen."

Eseme turned her wise old eyes back to Mugen, looked him over, then snorted as she picked up her pipe. "Ya, it not make much senses to me." She said as she loaded and lit the long pipe. "Why girlie like that be with boy like you."

Mugen could feel his temper rising. "You trying to insult me hag?"

'Haha, is like dough in my hands.' Eseme thought as she took a deep puff from the pipe. "So, Mugen is being your name? Well Mugen, I am not knowing how you two came here, or why, all I now know is that your girlie will be working for me until your arm is healed."

"She what?" Mugen raised his eyebrows, not paying attention to the fact that Eseme had called Fuu his 'girlie'. Why in all hell would she do that?

Eseme took another puff from her pipe, the wrinkles on her forehead smoothed out as she relaxed from a long day. "You two have no money to be paying me with, so, she must work." She gave him another sly look from the corner of her eye. "Besides, you look like reckless samurai to me, I can keep closer eye on you. Make sure you don't move around too much, eh?"

A strange look came over Mugen's face, his eyebrows were pushed downwards as if he were mad, but his eyes said otherwise. Eseme closed her old eyes, blowing a puff of smoke from her lips. "You should be thanking her." "Bah." Mugen said, walking out of the room, leaving Eseme feeling proud of herself.

He stepped out into the open night. The moonlight streamed down from the sky, lighting up Eseme's backyard. He saw the small the vegetable garden, and what looked like an herb garden next to that. It was all very different from what he was used to seeing, everything looked soft, welcoming, almost.

But the thing which caught his eye most was Fuu. She was standing barefoot, her ankles and half of her calves showing from having her outfit torn twice. Pieces of her brown hair were sticking out from her bun, and she was leaning against one of the posts.

'Damn it…' He saw her shoulders were shacking, as if she were cold, or crying. "So, looks like we're gonna be staying here for a while longer." Fuu's head jolted up, Mugen had startled her, and he knew this.

A small smile played on her lips as she answered, "Guess so." Mugen came and stood behind her, their shoulders mere centimeters apart. "I hope you're not planning on getting yourself kidnapped. Thanks to that old hag I won't be much of a body guard for the next two weeks."

Fuu's face fell again, her eyes were sad. "Mugen…" She whispered. "I'm so, so sorry." Mugen was planning to say something about how weird this village smelled, so her words threw him completely off balance.

"You're sorry?" He could see the tears swelling in the corners of her eyes, and felt angry with himself for going outside.

"If I had just done what you asked you wouldn't have gotten hurt. It's all my fault…"

Mugen wasn't sure what to think, his head was spinning with confusion. He didn't want her to cry--those tears in her eyes scared him--but it was like he couldn't move to comfort her. What could he say? What could he do? This wasn't his department. Whenever Fuu was upset it was always Jin who set her strait again.

When those tears fell Mugen thought he had been shot for the kill. Then, it was like a new instinct took over. Not like his fighting instincts, not like his running away instincts, and not like his sexual instincts. Without really thinking about it he brought his left arm around her shoulders, pulling her forcefully into him. Fuu gave a weak struggle once, then gave up, her small body seemed to melt into his.

"Damn right it is you're fault..."

She could feel his breath on her head as he stared down at her. 'What?' She wasn't expecting these words, to be honest she hadn't expected any of it. Never the less, it hurt even more, hearing it from him. Two more tears trailed down her face, landing on the red material of his shirt. She was about to push out of his grasp and yell at him, but as if he knew what she was planning he held on tighter.

"…but I promised to help you find the smelly guy, and if that means I gotta protect you then that's what I'm gonna do. I _will_ protect you, and if you're gonna make it difficult then you damn well better not cry after." Fuu couldn't believe her ears, thinking maybe the pounding of her heart had drowned out Mugen's real words and this was just what her mind had made up.

"But…you could have been-" "Killed?" He finished. "Hell, I could have been killed in any damn battle. Just happened the odds weren't with me."

Fuu felt like she was going to cry, only she wasn't sure why. She should have been happy, happy that he wasn't angry with her, happy that he was ok, happy for this unusual moment. But she couldn't stop the tears from coming down her face, and with Mugen holding her arms down she couldn't reach up to wipe them away and hide them from his eyes.

"Hey, what you crying for now?" Fuu smiled in spite of herself, leaning her head back against Mugen's collarbone. "You know, I'm really not sure."

"Cryin' without a reason is a waist of water if ya ask me."

"Oh there's a reason, I just haven't figured it out yet." Fuu said, her smile warm with authentic happiness for the first time in days.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, neither really sure what to do now, neither really wanting to move.

Mugen was fighting with himself again, the instinct which hade taken over before seemed worn out, and it deserted him. Now that Fuu was ok shouldn't he let go? But, she felt so good in his arms. He leaned his head down, and discovered that it could fit perfectly over hers. His chin could reach the top of her head without difficulty, his face could burry in her hair. And his arm was just long enough that it could reach all the way to grasp her right shoulder.

'Damn it, I don't get feelings like this…Criminals don't get feelings like this.' He tried to tell himself, tried to explain his actions with 'lust reasoning.'

Fuu was trying not to think, trying not to wonder why he was doing this, and about what would happened when eventually, he'd let go. This new side of Mugen was so different, like the smooth edge of a half-sanded piece of wood. She was starting to feel sleepy, and from the weight of Mugen's head upon hers she could tell he was too.

She was opening her mouth to say something when Momo flew from inside the house and landed on Mugen's lowered head.

"Eh?" Mugen lifted his head as Momo climbed down his hair onto his shoulder. Fuu turned around in Mugen's grasp and stared at Momo too. "Hey fuzz-ass, what's with you?" "Chir!" Momo squeaked, then gave Mugen a lick on the check and scurried in a blur of gray fur into Fuu's kimono.

Neither stunned person moved, and when Fuu finally looked up at Mugen she couldn't help but laugh. The expression on his face was priceless, he looked like he had just been hit in the face by a slimy fish. Mugen snapped out of his momentary trance.

"I think your rat got into some of the hag's pain tea." Fuu stifled the last giggle with her hand, then looked up at him, with eyes that appeared truly happy. "Aw, you just don't understand squirrels."

"And you do?" He asked, not sure whether to be amused or disgusted by the current situation.

"As a matter of fact I understand Momo perfectly." Before Fuu could continue with her argument Eseme called from inside the house, "Girlie! You better be getting to sleep, I want workers in shop at seven in morning!" "Coming!" Fuu answered, as if being sent to bed by a seventy year old Dutch woman was something she did every night.

With a slight tint in her checks Fuu turned back to Mugen, completely conscious that his arm was still around her. She knew Eseme would be expecting her, but she didn't really know how to end what had just happened.

Mugen was starting to feel uncomfortable, as if by holding her this long he had passed a border he wasn't meant to cross. So he removed his hand from her back, letting it hang limp at his side instead. 'You should be thanking her.' Thanking her for what?

"Well, I guess I should go then. Sleeping in a real bed will be an awesome change." Fuu said as she steeped away from him towards the house. As she reached the doorway Mugen said, "Hey, the hag said I should thank you."

Fuu looked over her shoulder and smiled again. "She's smart isn't she?" Then disappeared into the dimly lit house.

Mugen let out a loud sigh of exasperation as he turned back to the night sky and threw himself down on the floor. What the hell was that? What the hell WAS that?

Eseme was making Fuu's bed. Fuu would have her own room for the first time in ages. She knelt down to help Eseme after stripping down to her under clothing for the night. Fuu watched the old woman's skilled hands as she folded the sheets and smoothed out the sleeping mat. Both looked as though they had been stored in a cup-board somewhere for ages and had not been used again till now.

"Eseme?" Fuu asked as she took down her hair. "Yes Fuu girlie?" "Do you know anything about a samurai who smells of sunflowers?" Eseme's hand paused in the middle of picking up Fuu's scattered clothing. After a second of thought she completed the reach, looked the kimono over for a second, eyeing the tattered edges. Then turned to face Fuu once again.

"I make another deal with you, if you will convince your samurai to help our town with the murderers when he is better, then I will answer all questions you wish to be asking." Fuu blinked twice. "Sure, you've got yourself another deal." 'Murderers?'

Eseme smiled, her wrinkled face looked almost beautiful that way. "Good. Tomorrow we go find you new dress, yes? See, his one is torn."

"You're nice Eseme, but I couldn't cheat you out of more money." Fuu said guiltily, holding up her hands as if in defense. Eseme just laughed. "Don't be worrying, I have friend who owns tailor show down de street. She give me free cloths for free medicines. Now sleep tight Fuu girlie, you need much energy for tomorrow eh?"

Fuu yawned, easing down onto the soft futon. "Yeah, it's so good to be in a real bed again. Thanks Eseme."

Eseme slid Fuu's door shut, saying goodnight before the wood of the wall and the wood of the door clicked together. 'It is so good to be having people in this old house once again.' She thought as she strolled down the hallway into the other guess room to prepare Mugen's bed.

---

"Oy! Fuu girlie! Get up, is time to go to shop!" Fuu woke up reluctantly, all night her dreams had been replaying that moment with Mugen, the way the cold night seemed to being warm. But she didn't have any time to think about that now, she had to work.

She rushed around trying to get dressed, try up her hair, and wash her face before Eseme left without her. As she ran to the door she tried to yell with one breath: "Mugen wake up! Eseme-and-I-are-leaving-for-the-shop-and-then we're-gonna-go-shopping. So-stay-here-and-don't-get-into-any-fights!" into Mugen's room. However she found this not to be possible and had to settle for a two breath count.

Mugen rubbed his head as he sat up, it was too early to get up… 'What did she say? Something about fights…' He thought as he pulled on his red shirt and went outside. It was a sunny morning, cold, and crisp. Perfect for training.

"Just cuz I can't use my right arm don't mean I can't practice with the left." That was part of his philosophy, find ways around disadvantages. He unsheathed his sword, testing himself on how fast he could do it. After executing a couple dozen defensive and offensive moves he smirked in triumph, finding that his left hand was just as able as his right. "Ha, still got it." Learning to fight with both hands was something most people in Ryouko considered essential.

He didn't want to try any fancy moves just yet, his right arm was tied at a right angle to his stomach so he couldn't move it. This made it extremely hard to bend into most of his usual fighting positions. "Damn old hag." He complained as he hacked down another imaginary opponent.

An hour later he stopped to take a break, the pain in his shoulder was beginning to bother him again. Running his hand over his forehead to wipe some of the sweat away, he walked back into the house.

While he was training he had been thinking of what he had done last night. Wondering if it might have been the result of some pain killers Eseme had given him. He kept re-playing what he could remember of it, the things he said, the things she said, trying to squeeze some reason into the event. Mugen finally gave up on account of an over worked brain, and let his mind relax for a nap.

"Thank you and have a nice day sir." Fuu said cheerfully to the customer she had just sold a bottle of medicine to. Another walked in soon after, she handed Fuu a piece of paper with a product name on it. It was Fuu's job to get the customers what they needed and to tell Eseme when new patients came in.

She read the paper, looked at the list that said which shelf the product was on, then when to go retrieve it. "Thank you and have a good day ma'm." When the lady left she yelled into the doctor room; "Eseme! We just ran out of the bruise gel!" She called into the treatment room, where Eseme worked on her patients. "Okay Fuu girlie, make sure you write dat down on paper!"

Fuu quickly jotted down the information, then looked up again to receive the next customer. It had been an very busy day, since Eseme was the only doctor in the town everybody came to her with their aces and pains. It wasn't her usual job, but Fuu was enjoying herself.

After a few more patients and prescription pick-ups Fuu was starting to feel really hungry. It hadn't occurred to her until then that she hadn't eaten breakfast. She looked out the window, and judged it to be at least ten in the morning, almost time for lunch!

Right on cue Eseme walked into the reception room, wiping her hands with a wet rag after her last examination. "Hey Fuu girlie, want to take a break?" Fuu's face light up with a hopeful smile. "Food?" Eseme laughed, putting down the rag and picked up her purse. "Of courses."

It made Eseme smile, watching Fuu as she slurped away enthusiastically at the bowl of ramen in front of her. Fuu's apatite reminded her of how her own had once been, large and healthy. Like Fuu Eseme was tiny, her bones didn't have much fat on them anymore. She was just a head smaller then Fuu, they could have been grandmother and granddaughter if not for obvious facial differences. Fuu the face of a young Japanese woman, Eseme the face of an aged Dutch woman.

"Thif ish delishush!" Fuu cried happily, her words lost between a mouthful of steaming ramen noodles. "I'm glad you're liking it, Mr. Hakoto is best cook in town." The man she was talking about leaned backwards so that his head stuck out from behind the various kitchen equipments. "You only say that because I give you free meals!" He said, a sparkling smile on his handsome face.

Eseme gave him a playful disapproving scowl. "You know perfectly well I can pay for mine own dinner thank you." Ren Hakato laughed. Fuu couldn't help but notice how his sleek mustache moved when he did this.

"But Doctor, I am in dept to you. My sister would not be alive if not for your skilled hands." Fuu sucked in the last noodle from her bowl. "What happened to her?" It might have been rude to ask, but she was curious.

Ren turned his eyes to Fuu, a small smile was sent to her too. "She was attacked by the Blackbirds, almost got her arm cut off."

Fuu's eyes got wide with growing interest. She remembered something the Lord Kimo had said, about a gang attacking the village, and the promise she made to Eseme. Then she remembered the men who attacked Mugen in the forest. "Do they dress all in black?"

Eseme gave Fuu a look of confusion, her left eyebrow raised. "Yes, it is their uniform to dress entirely in black. How do you know of this?" Fuu wondered if it would be ok to tell Eseme about what happened. Thinking quick on her feet she answered, "Well ya know, Blackbirds, it makes sense that they'd wear black."

Although Fuu's acting was good Eseme didn't appear to totally believe her. Ren took their empty bowls from them. They thanked him and left the bar to make way for new customers.

It was a short walk to Eseme's friend's shop, it seemed to Fuu that everyone here was either a farmer or owned their own business. On their way in the door Eseme gave the bell which hung outside a quick ring. "Hello Mika!" She called out, her old voice sounded happy.

Ms. Mayaka was sitting at a low desk, sowing away at a blue and pink kimono. Upon hearing her name she looked up, then smiled seeing her old friend. "Ah Eseme, what can I do for you today? Need a new stock of gloves?"

Eseme gave her a sly look, and pushed Fuu in front of her. "Not for me, I recently pick up this scrawny thing, unfortunately her dress has been ruined. You see? The ends are torn."

Mika stood up, circled once around Fuu, muttering things under her breath, probably about measurements. Finally she took Fuu's chin between her thumb and her pointer finger, looked into her brown eyes. "Hm…Yes, I think I have just the thing for you." In a flash she ducked into a back room and came out with a pale green kimono in hand.

She held it up against Fuu as if she were wearing it, having Fuu examine it in the large body mirror in the front of the shop. It was beautiful, yet so simple. The even lighter patterns inlayed into the soft green material made pretty swirls at the ends of the sleeves and through the middle.

"It's really pretty." Fuu commented, looked at herself in a mirror for the first time in ages. She had almost forgotten the last time she had done this, picked out a new kimono. It had to have been with her mom.

About an hour later the tree women were having a good time, Eseme and Mika with dressing Fuu, and Fuu with being dressed. When the final touches had been added, and a tip left for Mika they said goodbye. It was getting late, and Eseme and Fuu knew they had to get home soon. Eseme said, "You're samurai will be wanting to know where we women are offing too." Fuu blushed, clutching her discarded kimono to her chest. 'He's not my samurai.' She wondered why this term of Eseme's hadn't bothered her before, she must have said it at least three times since they had meet.

As they walked back to Eseme's Fuu started thinking about Mugen again, it was almost late afternoon. Eseme had a bowl of ramen from Ren to take to him, and she wondered if he would like it. Mostly she wondered if he would like her new outfit. 'It's not like I need him to like it, that idiot can hate it for all I care.'

Meanwhile Mugen was waking up from his nap, only to find the his shoulder hurt more then it did before he fell asleep. He got up and walked through the house to the doctor office. Eseme's house and business were right next to each other, connected by an added on door after she bought the second property. When he found no one at the desk or in the backroom he cursed.

"Where the hell did those bitches go?" His shoulder was making him more irritable then usual. Less then a minute later a customer walked in, look one look at Mugen, and nearly fell over. "B-b-blackbirds!" The old man called out, his hoarse voice didn't carry very far, but it caught Mugen's attention. "Eh?"

"Blackbirds!" The man yelled again as he turned and ran back out the door. 'Blackbirds?' The name stuck a cord in Mugen's memory, so he chased after the man. This wasn't difficult to accomplish as Mugen was quite a few times faster then the elderly man.

Mugen grabbed onto his collar, the old man fell to the ground, holding his arms above his head, as if in defense. "P-please don't hurt me!" He groveled.

"Why did you yell blackbird?" Mugen asked gruffly, giving the poor man a shake as if to revive his senses. The Mr. Aikto looked up at the ruff man standing above him, his eyes were wide with fear. "Then, you are not one of them?" "One of who!" "One of the Blackbirds, they are the gang who terrorize this town. You look like a man of their group, except that you are not dressed in black."

'Black? Weren't those bastards from the forest dressed in black?' He thought, still holding the cowering man by the collar of his dark blue kimono.

"Mugen!" He turned his head at hearing his name screamed angrily down the street. Shortly after he received a blow on the head, which, he was surprised to find, was delivered by Eseme. "Pouty mouth, what you are you thinking you are doing with my customer!"

Between Fuu's scream and Eseme's blow they made a pretty good team, either way Mugen was stunned enough to drop Mr. Akito. Esme gave Mugen another strong waking on the head, then turned to Mr. Akito.

"I am sorry about him." Mr. Akito brushed himself off, smoothed down what was left of his graying hairs and put on a shaky smile. "No damage done, there was a misunderstanding. I thought the boy was a-" Here Mr. Akito paused, gave a quick look over his shoulder, then, in a much lower voice continued "A Blackbird."

"Ah, I see you are having a good reason to be making this assumption." Eseme shot a critical look Mugen's way, Fuu couldn't help but giggle. Mr. Akito seemed to notice Fuu for the first time, he gave her the same smile, this time with less shakes. "Are these two youngsters working for you Eseme?"

Eseme gave a short laugh, motioning for the group to move inside. "The girlie yes, Fuu is working to pay for Pouty Mouth's treatment." Mr. Akito laughed at hearing Eseme's well acquired nickname for Mugen. "I see, so Fuu what is wrong with your friend?" 'This guy's acting like I'm a little kid…' Fuu thought in her head, knowing it would be too rude to say anything about his weird behavior out loud.

Fuu look a step towards Mugen, positioning herself at his right side, with a look of fake contemplation on her face. "Well, you see sir, he suffers from a dislocated arm." She stretched her hand up and gave him a nock on the head. "And severe brain damage."

"Hey!" Mugen yelled, by this time quite feed up with people hitting him on the head. "I don't have brain problems you stupid little bitch!"

Mr. Akito suppressed a laugh behind his large wrinkled hand. "Eseme, I see your name for this man is quite efficient." "Yes, he does dat a lot…" Mugen was about to snap at Eseme when he noticed she was carrying a bag that smelled more then particularly good. "Hey old lady, what's in the bag?" For the first time that day he realized the hadn't yet eaten.

Eseme handed Mugen the warm bag, finished with the matter, and asked Mr. Akito. "So, I am guessing you are here for your medicine yes?" "You are guessing correctly." He answered with a chuckle in his throat.

Eseme walked around behind her desk, pulled out a piece of paper from her various collection of prescriptions and customers, and handed it to Fuu. "Watch dis, I got her trained already." Fuu looked at the order for a bottle of eye medicine. Eseme had given her a tour of her vast collection of medicines and herbs and she now knew where to find just about anything. 'Eye medicine, that would be on this shelf…'

Eseme was a smart woman, each of the shelves had numbers painted underneath the bottles, Fuu was looking for the bottles labeled 0559. In less then a minute she handed the small glass bottle, full of a crushed powder, over to Mr. Akito.

"Not bad, how long has she been here?" "Only one day if you believe it." Mr. Akito appeared impressed, raising his eyebrows upward towards his widening forehead. He handed Eseme a couple of Yen, then Eseme shooed Mugen and Fuu from the room. "Go do something, I must be talking to Mr. Akito about important matters."

"Ok." Fuu answered, Mugen didn't try for any kind of response, as his mouth was full of partly warm ramen. As they walked down the hall back into Eseme's living room Fuu noticed that Mugen hadn't said anything about her new kimono. She was starting to wonder if the thought had even occurred to him that she was wearing something different. She sighed out a tiny breath of air, barely noticeable over the sound of Mugen's slurping.

They sat down on opposite sides from each other, and it seemed like a very long minute until Mugen had finished his meal. As he wasn't intent on talking until he had. Finally he put the bowl down, then wiped a few stray pieces of carrot from his mouth.

"Hey." He said, not looking at her directly. "What's that shit I'm 'spose to take?" Fuu blinked a few times, as if to clear hear head to think about his question. "Which stuff?" Mugen gave her an irritable glare. "The pain stuff."

To his surprise her eye brows furrowed as if in worry. "Is your shoulder hurting you again?" His mouth hung open a little bit, not sure as to what it would say to her remark. He turned his head away from her, keeping as annoyed a look as he could muster on his face. "Maybe."

"I'll go get it, don't move around much till I get back." Fuu said as she ran back to the office to retrieve the pain medicine Eseme had said to give Mugen whenever his shoulder hurt. When she opened the door Eseme wasn't there, apparently she and Mr. Akito had left. She went to the shelf for edible herbs and powders, looked up the number of the product, and retrieved a leaf from the large jar.

When Fuu came back Mugen was laying down, his head rested on one of the pillows near the table. The smell coming from the tea was strong, and it was making Fuu a little dizzy. She had to boil the leaf in the water for tea and make him drink it, and it reminded her of the first time she had seen him.

It was that day in the restaurant, he came in and said he'd take out the men causing trouble for fifty dumplings. Looking back she regretted not taking the first offer of fifty dumplings. 'Gue…I wonder if I still owe him those fifty dumplings.'

She put the tray with a tea pot and cup down on the table, then, kneeling by his stomach, have Mugen and poke on the head. "Hey, get up will ya? Eseme said you just have to drink this tea."

Mugen opened one of his eyes, sending her a 'leave me alone or die' sort of message. "Common, you can't just let it sit there, Eseme will be mad cuz you wasted one of her pain relief leaves." He gave a snort like noise, then reluctantly pushed himself up. "Whatever…"

Fuu smiled and handed him the ice blue cup, hot from the green liquid inside. Mugen sniffed it, wrinkled his noise, then took a sip. "Bleh…" He took another sip.

Eseme stood in the doorway, smiling at the two of them. "Ah, I see you know you're way around the de medicine cabinet Fuu girlie." Fuu smiled widely at Eseme. "Yup."

;;; I know I haven't had Jin in this for like, two chapters, but hand in there Jin fans he will have a big part next chapie!


	8. Lord Rukono and the Blackbirds

Jin woke up to the new day reluctantly, his job at the restaurant was irksome. Slicing vegetables and fish was no job for a sword. Between paying for rent and meals he was still able to save up some money for when Mugen and Fuu got back. As of today they would have been gone for five days. He was beginning to wonder what had happened to his other companions.

"Perhaps I should see about fixing that bridge today…" He thought aloud as he dressed for that days work, carefully trying his sword into place at his side. If they had been waiting at the cliff for him he would never hear the end of it.

Eseme was looking over her stock of sunflower oil based products, and was noticing that it was getting low again. It would be time to go get more ingredients soon, a perfect opportunity for more of her 'interference'.

Later that day as she and Fuu were cleaning up the shop from a busy day's work, Eseme asked, "Fuu, how would you like to see de sunflower fields?"

Fuu's head snapped up, the broom and dust on the floor immediately forgotten. She couldn't depict whether or not she was excited about going or not. A field full of sunflowers, would it bring back some long lost memory of her father? Either way she noticed that in those few seconds her heart had started beating faster, almost anxiously.

"Could we?" Eseme shook her head laughing at the width of Fuu's eyes. "Of courses. " She put away the dust cloth and straitened some books on the nearby shelf. "Grab dat basket by your feets, we'll re-stock on some of de medicines while we're der."

"Ok." She said as she followed Eseme out of the doctor's office and into the house. "Lets be taking Mugen too. If we don't let him out of house soon, I think he might explode." Fuu furrowed her eyebrows in a pout. She hadn't been very happy with him since yesterday, as he has still failed to say anything about her new kimono. "Alright…"

Eseme stopped in the hallway, then turned around to fix Fuu's hair. A few of the strands had come loose from the tight, clean bun on her head. "You go wait outside, oks? We will be out in un minute." She sent Fuu off so she could have a word with Mugen first.

"Oy, Mugen boy." Eseme said as she rapped her knuckles on the side of Mugen's door. Mugen had been sharpening his sword for the past hour. It was one of the only things he could do, with his right arm tied down to the point of immobility. He put down the stone and lifted his head up to look at the old woman. "Wha'dya want?"

Eseme had gotten used to Mugen's behavior and 'don't give a crap' attitude, and over the past three days had almost come to expect it. "Get up, we're going down to de flower fields." Mugen gave her a 'you've got to be kidding me' glare.

"Sunflowers are her thing, I don't give a rat's ass." Eseme trotted over to where Mugen was sitting and gave him a tap on the head with her fist. "I'm not caring if you give a rodent's ass. You're coming wit us and dat is dat. Besides, you need to work de other muscles so they don't go stiff."

Mugen was finding that arguing with Eseme was basically pointless. She was even more stubborn then Fuu, and would often make him do things he didn't want to by saying something opposite of what she had said previously. She had told him that he shouldn't be moving and doing exercises, then she says something about working muscles so they don't go stiff!

"Oh, and bring dat sword of yours, make it useful yes?" 'Crazy old bitch…' Mugen thought as he stood up and followed Eseme out the door. However, Eseme's seemingly senile ways weren't the first priority on his 'thinking list.' Since yesterday in the living room Mugen hadn't been in close quarters with Fuu, or said a single word to her for that matter.

Seeing her cleaned up did something to that soft-guy piece of his mind. And as he stepped out of the house into the pending twilight that same piece did a back flip in his chest. There she was, waiting for them. In her hands was a woven basket, obviously from Eseme's country, and she was clutching onto it like it was some great treasure she had been asked to carry. She was wearing that new kimono, this one was green, with yellow swirls.

He noticed that her hair was different too, though he wasn't sure what it was exactly that had changed. He didn't pay attention to these things…or so he told himself. Either way he was finding this annoying attraction to her. 'Probably the light, everybody looks pretty before the sun goes down…'

Eseme lead the way through the single road in the thin town. Since it rested at the bottom of a valley there was only a mile or two width for town-space. The whole of the city ran in a horizontal line along the rock walls of the mountain opening. Fuu was interested in the fact that they hadn't spread out more, but instead left the landscape much in the same fashion as it had been before the town was founded. The few trees that could manage growth in the rocky soil were tall and ancient, with only a few saplings scattered around.

What amazed Fuu still was the final sight of the famous sunflower field. It was nested in an extra wide space, and it seemed to stretch on for miles. It was all she could do but to run at full speed into that sea of yellow, her hair jostling along behind her, the basket on her arm bumping against her hip.

She came to an abrupt halt into the face of a large, yellow, seedy flower. Fuu took a large breath of the familiar scent. 'Just like father…' She thought contently, pulling her face from the center of the awesome plant. It was then that Eseme and Mugen got within speaking range with her again, since she had left them behind in the dust.

"You like the view, eh Fuu?" Eseme asked, a chuckle caught in her words. Fuu turned her head with a bounciness that had been missing for quite some time, and yelled back to her, "Oh Eseme it's wonderful! I can't remember the last time I've seen so many!" Then Fuu laughed and took another large whiff.

"What's the big deal? They're just flowers…" Mugen asked, he was being extra-grumpy because the way Fuu was acting was stirring those fuzzy jolts up again. "Those are not just _any_ flowers, those are teh fiftieth generation coming out from teh first sunflower seedling which I brought here." Eseme said, her head turned as if she were examining the crop, and a smile on her face that said she was happy with it.

"Wow…So you're the one who started the sunflower business here?" Fuu asked, her eyes wide as she stared at Eseme. "Yes, my husband an I, we move her from our home land an we brought wit us ten of de seeds from my grandmather's garden."

Fuu felt a little wave of guiltiness when Eseme mentioned a husband, she had never thought to ask about anything like that. But as if Eseme sensed Fuu's feelings she changed the subject back to the task at hand. "Fuu girlie, I get feeling that you know your way around sunflowers better den you to around medicines?"

"You bet." "Den I know you can pick out for me the biggest, healthiest four plants you see? Bring back de whole thing, roots an all." Fuu nodded gravely at this important task, then smiled and ran off into the uncharted forest of green stalks.

These were much bigger then the ones she had when she was growing up, these were taller even then she, and the stems almost as wide around as her arm.

Mugen wasn't sure why he followed Fuu into the seemingly endless field of sunflowers, but he did. Behind him Eseme smiled as she watched him go.

When he wasn't glaring at one of the big brown faces surrounding him he was watching Fuu. Everything she did, every move that she made, seemed magnified and made special by the mood set by the dimming sun.

He was doing a good job of keeping himself hidden from her sight, until his bound arm bumped against one of the stalks, moving it painfully, and he cursed. "Fuck!"

Fuu turned her head at the sound of the obscene word, and was surprised to see Mugen had followed her. "Mugen?" This was the first time she had spoken to him in almost twenty-four hours, and it seemed like the stupidest thing she could have said.

Mugen froze, for another reason he couldn't explain he felt like a criminal caught at the scene of the crime. It was quite ironic really, he had been a criminal all his life and not once had he frozen instead of took flight at the moment of his discovery. Then again, he had done some very strange things lately, most of them because of Fuu.

A moment of uncalled for awkwardness passed between them, then Fuu decided to take charge of the situation. She smiled, and said "I'm glad you're here, think I can borrow your sword for a sec? I just need to cut the head off this plant."

Mugen took a couple steps closer, now standing in front of her. He raised one of his eyebrows in a skeptical way. "Ya think you can handle it? You're pretty puny." Fuu felt her temper rising. "I am not puny! And of course I can handle it, how hard can it be to use a sword? Besides, I used it before."

Mugen snorted, then, using his left hand, removed the blade--scabbard and all--from it's usual place on his back. He tossed it to Fuu, who wasn't expecting the sudden throw, and had a difficult time getting her hands around it.

Giving him a defiant look, she placed her hand on the hilt of the sword, and the other halfway down the scabbard. With an unsteady jolt she pulled the sword--a little too quickly--from it's protective case. It was heavier then she had remembered, but not too heavy. After swinging the empty scabbard over her shoulder, she turned to the sunflower she had chosen as the first of four for Eseme.

Fuu lifted Mugen's sword high above her head, then brought the full weight of her body down onto the long green stem. To her surprise the tip of the blade merely bounced off the wax-coated surface of the plant, sending her backwards.

Mugen swore again as he caught her right hand, making sure the violent blade didn't go anywhere it wasn't suppose to. "Damn it, I said you couldn't do it!"

But Fuu wouldn't be defeated by a mere flower. "I just need to swing harder that's all." "No idiot, if you swing harder then you'll bounce back harder." Mugen let her hand go, and pushing her with his body he brought them closer still to the pesky plant.

Before she could protest to his touch he grasped her left hand, and forced it around the stem a few inches from the head. "Hold it there, then slice up and to the right." He said, trying not to become annoyed by her slow reactions. "Ok." She said as she did what he said. Fuu grasped the stem tightly between her left fingers, it's waxy and furry outer layer felt weird against them.

When Mugen had touched her hand he realized for the first time since they had meet Eseme that Fuu still had bandages around her palms. These, however, were not the pink scrapes of kimono he had put on, but clean, white bandages. No doubt Eseme had helped her.

He was brought back from his momentary thoughts by a happy squeal of triumph from Fuu. She had successfully removed the head of the sunflower, and had caught it before it hit the ground and scattered it's precious cargo. "Mugen that worked!" She cried happily as she put the head in the basket and turned enthusiastically around to face the man behind her.

A girlish blush came to her checks when she saw how close he was, and she was reminded of the events of almost two nights ago. "Whoopee." He said sarcastically, though inside he felt a little happy, a strange feeling that rarely came to him.

Fuu turned her eyes back to the piece of stalk still left in the ground, and in a swift yank pulled it and the roots from the dirt. She realized that the ground here had been cultivated, the rocks removed, and fertilizer added to the soil so that the sunflowers could grow more easily.

Though this discovery didn't surprise her half as much as when Mugen took the stalk from her, and carried it as they left the spot to look for a second victim. Though they didn't talk, it made Fuu a little happier, having Mugen close to her again.

In the half-hour it took them to collect the four best sunflowers Fuu thought about how they had been very close in the past few days. Physically, and almost mentally too. She tried to remember what it had felt like, when he had held her that moonlit night, and the way his hands were when he helped her the night before that. Mugen had always been a very ruff part of her new adventurous life, but both those times, she couldn't remember anything too very ruff about him. His hands, he said, were like sand, scratchy and hard, but that wasn't how she remembered them.

When they finally made their way back to Eseme the sun was gone, and only the faintest rays of light still lingered to guide them. Eseme walked a few feet behind them purposely, to give them more time together. Time for what? She wasn't sure, she only thought it would be good for them to have it. After all, time was a precious thing.

They were halfway to the house, and Mugen just knew he should say something. The hard man inside him protested otherwise, but like he had many times in the past few days, this man lost the fight. "Hey, you look different."

It was a stupid thing to say, but at least it was something. Fuu look up at him out of the corner of her eyes, making sure that she looked annoyed. "That's because Eseme took me to get new cloths. See?" She put on a small show for him, spinning around once as they walked. "Feh…"

"Like it?" She asked, with a playful air, trying to ignore the look of sarcastic disgust on his face. "It's greener then the other one." He commented.

"Duh." Fuu retorted dryly, this wasn't the conversation she had in mind. When she turned her head to the side to give him a glare she noticed that his face was twisted just a little bit. "Hey is your arm hurting again?"

"What makes ya say that?" He shot back. Mugen was getting tired of having to deal with her constant questions about his health. "Your face looks funny." "It's always like that, idiot."

He gave this answer a second thought, then realizing that it could be used as an insult against him, corrected it by adding, "If by funny ya mean irresistibly handsome." Fuu pretended to gag.

"Whatever, I think you should have Eseme check it out when we get home." Mugen glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, giving her a skeptical look. "Home? We're here three days and you call this place home?"

Fuu flushed for a second, then waved her hands at him. "No, no. You know what I meant, _Eseme's home._" Mugen kept his eyes on her for a few seconds more, then turned once again to the rocky road before him. "The sooner we leave the better, this place is starting to get to me."

They hadn't walked much farther before they heard screaming. "The Blackbirds! The Blackbirds are here! Everyone run!" Not a second later they saw a group of masked men, dressed in black, riding on large black horses. They were harassing the townsfolk, forcing the ones who had been caught outside their houses into a circle.

"Mugen whats-" Fuu didn't have time to finish her question, the two of them were swept into round-up as well. Fuu clutched the basket handle tighter in her hands, and tired to stay as close to Mugen as she could. These dark men were just like the ones they had encountered in the forest. 'So those _were_ blackbirds.'

Mugen however, wasn't as keen on being herded like some kind of animal. He put the sunflower stalks in his right hand and reached once again for his sword with his left. Fuu saw this. "Mugen hold on." Mugen looked down at Fuu, her eyes were stern, and a little afraid. "You can't just draw your sword, what'll happen if they attack you?" "I'll kill 'em." He answered quickly, not giving the idea a second thought.

A man running in panic knocked into Fuu, sending her falling into Mugen's chest. She was quick to recover but stayed closer still. "We have to find Eseme, whatever these bandits are doing I know it's not gonna be good."

Reluctantly Mugen lowered his hand. "Fine, but if these bastards start anything you ain't stoppin me from joinin in." Fuu was about to open her mouth in protest when a load, horrible noise flooded the frightened villagers. It sounded like the call of some dying bird, mixed with the sound of metal on metal. She covered her ears, and subconsciously leaned into Mugen, seeking him out for protection.

"Listen up all of you!" Boomed a voice over the hushed crowd, Fuu could see that it was one of the black clothed men speaking. The man was only a few feet from them, and had he not been wearing a mask she could have sworn he was no older then Jin. "Three nights ago, someone slain three of our men!"

He bent his head down on his horse to look into the eyes of a near-bye woman, the latter shrank back in fear. "Do you know who was among those three?" The man, obviously the leader, waited for a moment, and seemed to be trying to stare into the hearts of all those present. "My brother!" He screamed finally, sending a wave of screams through the crowd again.

He turned his horse around, taunting the crowd, making them think he would run them over. "I will find the bastard who did this, and when I do he will pay with much more then just his life!"

Fuu looked up again at Mugen, his face was turned towards the young rider, and a familiar glint shown in his eye. She knew that look by now, that was the look he got when he decided he was going to kill someone. She feared he would act on this instinct, if he did it could injure his arm again, tearing at the stretched ligaments.

"Mugen, lets go." She said, placing her hand lightly on his left arm. "What for?" He protested, not seeing the point in leaving when he could have the chance to fight. "Please, let's just go." This time her voice quieter, almost pleading.

Once again Mugen found himself caught in her trap, with no choice but to do what she asked. He hated this new way of doing things, this new part of him that fell pray at Fuu's tears. Before he had been able to ignore them without a second thought and pay little or no attention to her wants.

He took one last look at the man in the center of the circle, then turned and started making his way through the wall of villagers. Fuu smiled in relief.

They had almost made their way out when they came face to face with the sharp edge of a sword, swung at them by one of the henchmen on horseback. "Hey, no leaving until master Rukono has dismissed you!" He said, shaking his sword at them again.

Mugen smirked, 'Might get that fight after all.' "That bastard's not tellin' me what to do pall, I don't bow down to shrimps who're all talk and no action." This rebuttal seemed to annoy the man. "If you know what you're saying _cripple_, then you'll shut the hell up."

Mugen felt his temper rise. "What did you call me!" In a quarter of a second he had pulled out his sword, and before Fuu could stop him he had it raised at level with the masked man's.

The man only laughed, then he took a closer to look at the two people before of him. It hit Captain Tori Atataka that he had never seen these rebels before. 'Impossible, I've memorized every face here in Sunflower Valley…Unless…' "Kuro! Get over here!" He called to the man at his left. "What?" Kuro answered, reining his horse beside Tori's.

Atataka leaned his head close to Kuro's, and asked in a whisper "Didn't we close off passenger travel from the main-road?" "Yes, no one has been permitted through since last year." Tori turned back to the strangers below him. The girl looked as if she were trying to hold back the man, who in turn looked as if he badly wanted to kill him.

"Mugen you're just going to get hurt again…" Fuu had to grab onto Mugen's shirtsleeve to keep him from lunging at the darkly dressed man. "I can kick his sorry ass, even one handed! Just watch me." Mugen growled confidently.

"You, when did you arrive here?" "That's none of you're damn business." Atataka dismounted, keeping his sword strait at his side. These newcomers were going to be a problem…

By this time Rukono had noticed the small squabble at his gathering. He parted the wall of humans and game up behind Fuu and Mugen. Now the they were stuck between two of these 'Blackbirds.'

"What's going on here?" He asked in a mocking, regal voice. "My Lord, these two ingrates has come to this town of a way we have not thought to sabotage. What should you have us do with them?"

Fuu's eyebrows furrowed in worry, this wasn't good. "I'm sure this is just some kind of misunderstanding. We don't want anything to do with whatever it is you're doing, we're just looking for someone."

Rukono turned his eyes to Fuu, he gave her a roguish smile, almost taunting. "Well, I'm not sure how the two of you managed to get past all the traps set in this valley, but perhaps it is a good thing. There are hardly any attractive women left."

Fuu shuddered under that smile, her grip on Mugen's sleeve tightened. 'What a creep…'

Mugen had long since lost his patience with this arrogant thief. He turned right to face the exit between the two men, then, sword still in hand, he draped his left arm protectively over the top of Fuu's breasts. "Just get the hell out of our way, you're nothing but one big fucking distraction."

Rukono laughed, not noticing that the crowd was slowing starting to disperse. "You must have some fight in you, to have the confidence to speak in such a way to a man like myself." Mugen cast him a last look out of the corner of his eye, then started walking, pushing Fuu along in front of him.

They didn't get far at all before they came to the dangerous end of Tori's blade once again. "I cannot permit you to leave, until we know the nature of your presence here you will under the arrest of--" "Captain, there is no need for such dramatics." Rukono waved away Tori's blade with his hand, flashing once again that rough smile. "After all, we are dealing with a one-armed samurai and his woman, they pose no threat."

This time Mugen's temper hit it's peak, in a mad whip-like movement he struck with his sword at Rukono. In the impact of the swing tossed Fuu to the ground, and she stayed there in a mode close to shock. In all honesty she was relieved at the removal of Mugen's hands, she wasn't sure she liked them so…close.

Mugen's swing however, proved to the wasted. To his surprise Rukono had moved out of the way, more then a few seconds before Mugen's sword even came in range of him. "What the hell…"

"Careful samurai, a swing like that could hurt someone." While he talked Rukono pulled his own blade from it's scabbard. Mugen noticed that he had two swords, one for each hand. "Come now, lets not resort to this old fashion way of arresting. For once the captives should come quietly."

"Ha, you've got one fucked up idea of how to bag somebody!" Mugen growled, lunging at him with what he thought would be a deathblow. Unfortunately, Rukono was much faster then he had anticipated, and before Mugen could come back with a counter strike Rukono's sword had bitten into the side of his stomach.

"Mugen!" Fuu screamed, feeling a terrible sense of dejavu as she watched him hunch over in pain. 'Oh, please no…'

He smirked, not willing to let go of his sword to cover his wound. "You bastards are stronger then I thought."

"It was you who fought my brother wasn't it?" "Maybe it was, an' maybe it wasn't." Mugen shot back as he tried to stand up strait again. Fuu couldn't let this go on any further, if that man found out that it was Mugen who killed his brother he would murder him on the spot.

"Stop it!" She yelled as she ran between the two men, spreading her arms out in an effort to hold the two of them back. "What the hell are you doing!" Mugen yelled at her, if she got herself hurt they'd have to stay in this hell hole even longer.

Fuu turned her head to glare at him, tears brimming in the corner of her angry eyes. "I'm saving your life you jerk!" This answer made Mugen coil back a little bit, and it hit him that she was trying to protect _him_.

Captain Atataka raised the hilt of his sword to strike Fuu, but again Rukono stopped him. "Captain, remember the creed of the Blackbirds, women are to be untouched by sword or fist. Only in acts of lust are we to be ruff with them."

Fuu almost gagged at this so-called "creed", but she had to get Mugen out of there, she just had to. Even if it meant groveling to that pervert. "Can't we just forget about this? Lord Rukono, we won't be in this village more then two more weeks, I promise. And we don't care about whatever it is you're doing so there's really no point--" "In groveling to a son of a bitch like that." Mugen butted in, he had a good mind to push Fuu back away from the fight, though he didn't.

Rukono took on a thoughtful look, then with a wave of his hand dismissed the remainder of the shaken crowd. "I see there is no harm in your presence. And now that I've seen this…Mugen…fight I know he is not the one who has slain my brother."

"Why you-" Mugen started, but Fuu clasped her hands over his mouth before he could continue. "So, being the generous man that I am, I'll let you off…" He swung his sword down on them once again, his reflexes were faster then anything Mugen had ever seen, he didn't even have time to dodge. This swing only grazing Mugen's chest, cutting through both his shirts and into the top layer of skin, just enough to draw blood, barley missing Fuu. "A warning."

With this he turned and walked off, the night blue kimono he had slung over his shoulders waved in the breeze as he climbed back onto his horse.

In less then a minute Fuu and Mugen found themselves alone, the narrow street now completely disserted. The sun had set, and all trace of the day was gone, but by the light of the waning moon Fuu could see the dark spots on Mugen's clothing, and she knew they had to get back to Eseme's soon.

"Common, you've gotta get those wounds taken care of. We can look for Eseme later." Fuu said, giving his sleeve a gentle tug.

Mugen knew that there was no arguing with Fuu now, she would have her mind set on taking charge. So he let her lead him back to his borrowed room in Eseme's home, and waited while she gathered up all the necessary 'doctor stuff.'

'Damn…that bastard is fast…' He reflected back to the scene with Rukono. If his body didn't heal faster they might run into some trouble with him. 'I know I can kill him, just not in this damn pitiful state.' He lifted his hand, which had been pressed against the wound on his side for the last few minutes. It was stained red with his blood.

He was laying propped up against one of the walls, one of his legs drawn up near his stomach, the other flat on the floor. "Damn…It's getting fuzzy…" As if on cue Fuu came hurrying in, a tray in her hands, she looked like she was trying very hard not to trip. While she was ravaging the medical supplies she had run into Eseme, who had gotten home before them.

With a few calming words from the old woman Fuu was able to sooth some of her jumpiness. "I leave this one to you Fuu girlie, I know you can do it." Eseme had said as she handed Fuu the tray, the items on which she had chosen herself.

The first thing she did was help Mugen get his multiple shirts off, both were stained with blood. She had to untie his right arm to get the white one off. "Can you sit up?" She asked. Mugen rolled his eyes and pushed himself into as strait a sitting position as he knew. "Thanks." She reached behind his back to until the knots and let his right arm free from it's bondage. 'There's that scar again…' She thought as she looked back at the old one on his neck.

When she straitened his arm to lay by his leg Mugen winced, more from the stiffness then from anything else. "I-I'm sorry. You'll have to put up with some of that." Mugen shrugged it off, trying to look tough, like this sort of thing happened to him every day. To prove his point he tried to lifted his remaining shirt over his head without her help. Unfortunately it got caught on his ear, and Fuu had to suppress a giggle before she helped him.

After this was done Fuu stepped over his outstretched legs so that she could work on his wound. The bowl of hot water, a handful of white rags, and some bandages she had already spread out, so all she had to do now was take her place, nestled closely at his side. She fought back a small blush when her thy touched his.

She took out one of the rags from the bowl of water where she had left it to soak, rung it out, then lightly pressed it to Mugen's torn flesh. "Gah!" He yelled, the hot water stung in his wound. "I'm sorry!"

Fuu was being almost too apologetic, and Mugen noticed that her hands were trembling terribly. Not able to stand her in this sorry state any longer Mugen reached out and grasped her hand tightly in his. "You're hands are shaking. Ya won't get anything done that way." Fuu couldn't help but blush, and she apologized again. He gave her captured hand a tighter squeeze, hoping to wake her up from whatever mind-frame she had woken up into. "Don't do that either, it's a waste 'a breath."

Fuu smiled a little, "Alright." When her hand stopped shaking he let it go, now white in places with the shapes of his fingers.

She finished cleaning the blood from around and inside the cut, then, with the tips of her fingers she applied a gel to it. Mugen wasn't sure what it was, but after a while it started to feel really good. 'Even smells kinda good.' It might have been the gel, but Mugen could feel the softness of her hands, and it was a small and unusual comfort. 'Under worked, untainted hands…'

After various failed attempts at properly wrapping a bandage Fuu was finally finished, and Mugen looked like half a mummy. His chest and most of his abdomen had been wrapped in clean white bandages. "Done." She announced, a proud tone in her voice. Mugen examined her handiwork, looking over it with a critic-ish eye.

By that time it was late, they should have been asleep at least half an hour ago. Mugen was feeling unusually drained, so, using the wall for balance, he pushed himself to stand. Before she said it he had predicted that she would protest this action. "Mugen you shouldn't--" "Hey, I'm not dying, it's just two little cuts is all."

"They're not just little cuts, you could have--" "Bleed to death?" "Ah! Will you stop doing that!" She yelled at him as he walked to his futon. "Doin' what?"

"You keep interrupting me. One of these days I'll have something really important to say, but you won't know cuz you'll probably interrupt with something stupid." As he eased himself onto the mattress he felt an agitating pain as his skin stretched to lay flat. He felt lazy, so he lay on top of the sheets instead of under them.

"Like what?" He asked after a minute, his eyes were closed and his head was tilted to the left in unusual exhaustion. "Huh?" Fuu was busy cleaning up the equipment, so his question caught her off-guard. "What could you have to say that's worth listening to?" Fuu ignored this.

"Oh I don't know, something really big." Mugen opened his left eye to watch her work, but when she stood up he saw her limp. "Hey." He said, as he pushed himself onto his elbows and motion for her to come closer. "You get yourself hurt or somethin?" He pointed to her ankle, making her turn her eyes from him in shame. "It's nothing, I just bruised it a little, that's all." When she turned back to him she found that he was trying to sit up, her immediate reaction was to try and push him back down. Putting her hands on his chest, she gave him a shove back down onto the futon.

"You shouldn't do that Mugen, you've got to rest now." She told him, her voice like that of a scolding lover. But Mugen was too strong for her, and he overthrew her attempts to force him back down. He gave her a half glare, and without a second thought he took her ankle in his grasp and pulled it out from under her, making her butt hit the floor with a loud bump. "Hey! What do you--" "Does this hurt?" He applied a hard amount of pressure to her anklebone, and Fuu screamed. Refusing to look at him, she whispered over her shoulder; "You did it again…"

Mugen pretended not to hear her, and taking on a serious face he kept pressing down on different areas, each time taking note of the faces Fuu made. "Will you stop that!" She protested as trying to pull her foot from his grasp while keeping her panties from his view.

"So I can't pass a flesh graze for nothing but you can for a twisted ankle!" He yelled at her, he was getting an annoying feeling of dejavu. "It's not twisted, just soar." She argued.

"Fine, have it your way." He said, dropping her foot onto his lap, from where she quickly removed it. "But don't come cryin' to me to carry you when ya can't walk." Leaving the discussion there he flopped back on the bed, ignoring the wave of pain that came with the feel of the soft futon.

Fuu glared at him while she stood up and straitening her kimono. "Just get to resting already will ya?" She bent down again to put the medical contents back on the tray, then picked it up and carried it out of the room.

Once she was out of Mugen's ear-range she let out a loud sigh, the pain in her ankle really was nothing, but how could she explain to Mugen why it wasn't a big deal after she had made such a big fuss over his wounds?

'He's impossible…' She thought as she put back the contents of Eseme's tray in their original spots. "But…He was worried about me just now, wasn't he?' Fuu shook her head, she didn't want to go there, not now. It was too late, and she was too tired, to spend the night analyzing their relationship. Whatever kind of relationship it was.

Paintbrushplushi here! I hope u guys like this .; I don't think people like the last chapter very much, so I made this one extra long! And YESH our beloved bishie Jin is in this chappie!


	9. Tricks can hurt, but not like words

first off, thank u sooooooo much to the reviewers who gave critiques, it helps so much -.-

please feel free to be as mean as u feel needed, if u wanna point out every tiny problem PLEASE do so, really, I need the advice. As that weird old dead guy once said, "One can never find anything if they do not know where to look." Also, another big thanks to the reviews of other review…type…things……..yeah…

:hugs all around: from Plushi! And some the miss-spellings are for Eseme, I am purposely spelling things wrong to get her accent, and I apologize to any Dutch people reading this, please forgive me if I have butchered u'r beautiful accent

Ps. I applozies, yesh the last chapter was rushed, but I wanted to get it out of the way before I started working on this big paper for skool ( -hehe I spelled schul wrong) . but I pwomise I haven't rushed this one

The next morning when Mugen woke up it was by an annoying knock on his door. "Dammit what dya want?" He barked as he pushed himself up, trying to rub the haziness of sleep from his eyes. After receiving her answer Fuu entered the room, a warm smile on her face and a strange looking bottle in her hand. "Eseme said I should check up on you before we opened the shop."

Mugen glared at her. How she could be this happy in the morning was an uncanny and unknown fact. "I'm not dead if that's what the hag meant."

Fuu knelt down next to him in the same position she had taken the night before, and pulled a wad of what looked like cotton from inside her kimono. "Taken to stuffin' eh?" Mugen asked, staring at the round cotton ball with a teasing glint in his eye. "No you dumb-ass." Fuu growled back, momentarily distracted from her task of un-corking the odd blue bottle.

"What's that stuff?" Mugen asked, feeling a little curious about this new thing-a-ma-jig. "It's some kind of alcohol from Eseme's country, she said to give it to you." "Ha-ha, that's more like it." Mugen hadn't had a drink of anything stronger than green tea in almost a month, which was a bit too long in his opinion.

Fuu quickly snatched the bottom from his reach. "It's not for drinking, she said to put in on your wounds." "That sounds dumb…" Mugen said dryly, now having lost all interest in the bottle and it's foreran contents.

"Whatever, just hold still." Carefully, Fuu undid the bandages around his abdomen. They were stained with blood, but not badly. This relieved her a little bit, after playing the scene over in her head she had come to the conclusion that once again it had been her fault, what happened to Mugen. 'I'll have to re-wrap those with clean ones.'

Once this was done she tipped the bottle into the cotton cluster, just like Eseme had told her. Careful not to let any of it spill onto the floor. The clear liquid let off a deep, bitter smell, but Eseme said it would help prevent infection.

'Well, it sounds like a good idea to me. He never takes baths anyway.' This thought made her wrinkle her noise, not from any particular smell, just from the thought of the things that must have accumulated in his tangled mane of hair.

In this somewhat dazed state of mind she wasn't expecting what came next. When she pressed the wet, white ball on the cut along Mugen's chest he yelled and jumped a few feet away, well out of her reach. "WHAT THE HELL!"

Fuu blinked, stunned by his sudden actions. "What?"

He pointed at her, a deadly glare on his face. "You're trying to kill me aren't you? That damn bottle's full of poison or something." Fuu put a skeptical look on her face.

"Oh common, it can't be that bad…It's just medicinal alcohol, Eseme said it would prevent infection." "I don't care what it does, you ain't getting near me with that stuff again." In the back of her mind Fuu found the situation to be a little funny. Mugen was usually so tough, and though she knew he hated doctors she never expected so much trouble from him over something so simple. "You're just being a big baby." "I damn well am not!"

Fuu raised her eyebrows, she had to wrap this up soon and go help Eseme. "Aw common, just let me get it on the big one." "Fucking no, crazy bitch." Mugen had put up with various forms of pain, but this was a method of torture unknown to him. It felt worse then the hot water, maybe three times worse, and the stinging lingered.

Then Fuu did a strange thing, brave and strange. She pounced down on Mugen, holding him captive under her meager body weight. Positioning herself on his stomach, careful to avoid any wounds, she did her best to keep him down.

He struggled, but only after taking a few seconds to realize what had happened. This was something new, never before had she challenged his physical strength against her own. And Mugen intended to give her a challenge. If she wanted to play nurse with him he'd make her work for it. Their brawl on the floor soon became an all-out wrestling match, but because it still hurt to use his right arm Mugen was having a hard time winning.

During their moment of play they exchanged various names of affection, such as stupid bitch, dirty pervert, wimp, ect. Finally Fuu managed to pin down Mugen's left arm, holding it near his ear. In the moment it took him to push her back off she reached back for the forgotten ball of drunken cotton and pressed it into his wound. This time he didn't scream, but she noticed that he flinched when she picked up the white ball and moved it to another, un-touched piece of the torn flesh.

"There." She said, putting the cotton back down on the floor. Then she wiped some of the sweat from her forehead, which had accumulated due to the effort put into her victory. Mugen opened one of his tightly clenched eyes, mentally wishing a gruesome death upon the woman before him. He growled at her, but it was a small, almost pathetic sound, so she laughed. That smile, it was so close to his face, even her breath seemed close. He should have shoved her off of him, and he could have easily done it, but there was something about the feel of her knees pressing into the sides of his hips that made him feel numb.

Though they were both clothed--with the exception of the fact that Mugen was shirtless--it shouldn't have been anything sexual, if anything it was childish. He didn't have time to think much about such things, clearly she hadn't felt the same way, because not a second later did she remover herself.

As she attempted to straiten the room up some from their "excursion" Mugen pushed himself up on his elbows, then suddenly started to cough. Fuu turned her head and looked at him, one of her eyebrows raised. "What's the matter with you?"

Between gasping for breath and the continuous stream of violent coughs Mugen said, "I told you cough…it was…poisoned…" With this last word he fell back onto the floor, his head landing hard on the dark wood. Fuu snubbed this act off and continued folding his blanket. "Oh don't give me that, I know you're just faking."

But when she turned her head back to look at him a moment later he was still laying there, only his fingers on the left hand were moving. Then, they went still. "Mugen?" Fuu asked, her voice a little less confident then it had been in her prior words.

She put her hand on his immobile chest and shook him once. "You _are_ faking right?" When he didn't move she got a terrible pang in her stomach. As if it's contents had preformed a back flip. "Aren't you?" She asked again, her voice raised and a little quivery.

Fuu shook him again, harder this time, her eyebrows furrowed in worry. "Mugen, common, this isn't funny!" It had been almost a minute, and his lungs hadn't expanded to take in any new air. "Eseme!" Fuu yelled over her shoulder, panic now creeping up on her. "Eseme!"

She continued to shake him, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. "Please don't be dead, you can't be dead!" In a last attempt she lifted his eyelid, to her horror the night black iris was rolled upwards, just like the eye of a dead body.

"Mugen…" A small tear rolled down the side of her cheek, and she bent over, her head pressed against her folded knees. "You just can't be dead, I can't go back all by…by myself."

While Fuu was talking she had heard a sound that sounded strangely like chuckling. She raised her head, the stray locks of hair had gotten in her view, but she could still see clearly. And she saw Mugen, sitting up and staring at her, a mocking smirk on his lips.

For a second she was relieved, relieved enough that she had the erg to throw her arms around him. But after that one second her anger at him overtook this feeling of relief.

"Haha, that was great. 'I can't go back all by myself.' You really fell for that?" He mimicked her, mocking her cruelly.

Fuu felt her previous tears of grief turn to hot tears of embarrassment, and anger. "You…" She reached out, and slapped him across the face. "You jerk!" She screamed, then got up, turned sharply and ran from the room.

"Fuu?" Eseme saw the girl run past her in what looked like distress. She had come to see what the matter was, why Fuu had called for her. The old woman peeked into Mugen's room, a distant and confused look in his eyes, and the white shape of a hand on his cheek.

"What you do now potty mouth!" Eseme yelled at him, her eyes stern and chastening. Mugen shook his head in an attempt to wake himself up. "I didn't do anything, that bitch just flipped out!" Eseme glared at him, knowing there was obviously more to it. "You just wait here, I be back for you at lunch brake."

For the next few days Fuu wouldn't have anything to do with Mugen. Eseme had to tend to his wounds, as Fuu was refusing to. When she caught a glimpse of him in the hallway she would snap her head the other way and bolt for the nearest exit. Dinner and other meals were eaten in silence, cold silence. Or Fuu and Eseme would talk, while Mugen was ignored.

On the third day Eseme was starting to get to the end of her rope with these two, this quarrel was very silly. Fuu had told her what happened, about how Mugen pretended that the alcohol had killed him, then mocked her for believing it.

"It was humiliating…" Fuu said as she wiped the last tear from her eye. "I know girlie, but it will be oky. From what I know of dat Mugen boy I'm sure he didn't want to scare you so badly." Fuu let out a huff of air, showing her disbelief in this theory. "Oh he knew exactly what he was doing…" She turned her head, and Eseme was sure she was looking at her hands, now free of bandages. "He likes teasing me, and making fun of me… It's what he does."

'I've got to set that boy strait, she'll not be forgiving him anytime soon if he doesn't make first step…' Eseme thought detrimentally as she marched towards Mugen's room. She found him picking at the bandages around his stomach. The cut on his chest had healed quickly, not even leaving a scar. Though the slice along his side was still scabbed over, not quite healed completely yet. She was glad to find him there. Since his quarrel with Fuu had began he had taken to been out for long amounts of time. She wondered if maybe he was looking into the whole Blackbird issue, but that would have to wait. She had more important things to deal with first.

"Mugen!" Eseme said, her voice raised and scolding, having come to be accustom to using this voice on him, as he was usually doing something he wasn't suppose to. "Listen to me boyo, you're going to apologize to Fuu whether you want to or not. You own it to her."

First he gave her a confused look, then his eyebrows furrowed downward in obvious disapproval. "Oh freakin' no way, I didn't do anything to that crazy little bitch." "Dat is no way to speak of peoples you care about."

"Who says I care about her?" Mugen snapped back, this Eseme woman was starting to get on his nerves. Between her nosiness and her being a doctor it was almost too much.

Eseme gave him a look he couldn't read, then coolly replied; "Says you rushing after her into de field after you said you don't care about sunflowers." "I'm her bodyguard, I'm suppose to do that." He argued. "Says de fact that you won't let me anywhere near you wit-out a fight, but you let her take care of you." Now she put on a sly look. "Says you treating her hands." At this Mugen jolted up, and with words full of passion yelled, "How the hell do you know about that!"

Eseme just gave him a calm smile, keeping the face a person who's plan is going exactly as they want it to. "You don't tink I can tell? Fuu couldn't have done dat herself, have you ever tried tying someting on your own hand? Is difficult ya?"

Mugen couldn't understand why he was suddenly so angry. What did he care if she went around yapping to other people about their adventures? It meant nothing to him, and it sure as hell shouldn't. But somehow, even with this reasoning, he couldn't deny the small feeling of betrayal that tugged at the bottom of his hard criminal heart.

"I ain't apologizing, gimme one good reason hag." Eseme shot him a glare, and shacking her finger at him said, "Fine den, if you don't I'll make you take bath in de rubbing alcohol. Un if you drink it you die for real. Got it?"

Mugen opened his mouth to yelled something obscene at her, but chose not to. "Fine…" Under his breath he muttered "Fuckin' crazy old hag…"

He slunk from the room, a dark cloud of annoyance hanging over his head, and a deep wishing he could threaten someone else into doing this for him. "Damn it, apologies ain't my thing." He thought out loud.

It took Mugen a while to actually find Fuu, she had gotten so good at avoiding him over the past few days that he eventually came to the conclusion that as he looked she was hiding. He went outside to look for her, and when he discovered she wasn't there either he cursed in exasperation. This was getting more troublesome by the minute. 'If I ever do find that stupid little--Huh? Aha!'

His thoughts were interrupted by an all too familiar laugh, it was coming from the kitchen. Mugen followed the sound of her laughter, and found her sitting on the floor, surrounded by different vials and baskets. All of them containing pieces or parts of the four sunflowers they had harvested. At the moment she was playing with Momo, who he knew as 'that damn little bastard'. Momo was jumping around and around, every once and a while pausing to take a sunflower seed from her hand.

For a moment Mugen just stood in the doorway, watching her. As much as he hated it, that smile made him feel better then he had been for the past three days. Although Fuu wasn't aware of his presence Momo was, and the small squirrel was keen on making it known. He paused in his play with Fuu, and scurried towards Mugen, his ears back in disapproval.

"Momo? Where are you…" Fuu followed her beloved pet with her eyes, but when he came to Mugen and her eyes locked with his her mood changed completely. The smile faded from her pink lips and her eyes turned cold. She got up to run away from him again, but before she could make her way out of the room he caught her around the wrist with his right hand.

Eseme had let him go without wrapping his injured arm that morning, saying that he could start using it in moderation now. 'Whatever the hell moderation means…'

"Let go!" She screeched, pulling hard to get away. "I'm thinkin, no." He said, not letting the sudden pain caused by her resistance get into his hard voice.

"I don't want to see you!" Fuu yelled again, this time moving to slap him again, but he was too fast today, his senses not dulled by sleepiness, and he caught her again by the wrist.

Fuu was shocked to realize that he was using both his hands, and for a moment she froze. Momo, having done his part, stayed back but alert should he need to help his favorite human.

Mugen used her moment of confusion to his advantage. In one breath, with his voice just below a yell and very rushed, he said "I'm-sorry-I-made-you-cry-now-go-tell-the-old-hag-you-forgive-me-or-she's-gonna-drown-me-in-that-alcohol-shit!" Fuu blinked, it took her brain a second to register what he was trying to say.

"Mugen…did you just apologize?" To this Mugen groaned, mentally cursing everything about this moment. "Yeah whatever, now are ya gonna forgive me or not? That old bitch is crazy!" Fuu sent him a glare, not believing what she was hearing. "So you're only sorry because Eseme told you she'd do something to you if you weren't?"

Mugen, unaware that he was still holding a tight grip on her thin wrists, glared right back. "Pretty much yeah, that's it." Tears of anger swelled again in Fuu's eyes. Mugen had done, and said some mean things to her before, but never had it effected her like this. She didn't think she would have minded it if he had just pretended, but on top of that he had to mock her. And not just anything, but the words she was suppose to be speaking to a dead corps. For god sakes she could have said anything! And it wouldn't have mattered to him if it whether it true or not, he would have mocked it anyway.

"You're such a big jerk! I can't believe I was worried about you!" These words of hers did something to Mugen, and his actions were like that of a man who had just been shot. His grip on her loosened, the hot emotion in his eyes seemed to lessen, and even the natural scowl on his lips seemed to have slackened.

They started replaying in his head, over and over. 'I was worried about you…' Since before he could remember Mugen had been on his own, alone to fight the cruel world with nothing but the cloths on his back and the weapon in his hand. He wasn't used to having people care about him, take care of him, or worry about him.

Almost twenty years he had gone without this kind of human assurance in his life, and in the past week he had received so much of it from Fuu that he must not have realized what it was. After all, give a starving man, who has eaten nothing but berries and other wild things all his life, miso soup and he won't know what it is. All he will know is that it's a hell of a lot better then acorns.

"You were…that worried?" Fuu's fists clenched in his grasp, and she turned her head so that she didn't have to look at him. "What do you think…" She muttered, and Mugen was sure he could hear the hurt in her voice.

When he thought back to it he remembered the way she had shaken him, called out his name, and even called with a desperate tone for Eseme's help.

'What the hell…' He had never felt this warm before, not even the hot beaches of Ruyoko seemed to have ever reached this temperature. "Why the hell would you do that?" He asked, doing his best to sound mad again, though he wasn't succeeding.

Fuu couldn't help it. She was sure that all the crying she had done between those three long days would have dried up her eyes, but no, the tears still fell. "Because that's what friends do!" She yelled, continuing to refuse to look at him. "They worry about each other!" "Eh?"

Damn it, why was this so hard? Why did he having to think about the things she said. True, even he had to admit it, they had been acting more like friends then they ever had. Maybe even-'No! Not goin' there!' Mugen thought, fighting off the things the new 'instinct' told him.

"Chir chir chir!" Momo cried from the sidelines, the fur on his tail was unusually fluffy and he was standing on two legs. Perhaps attempting a threatening posture. 'Stupid rat…' One of these days Mugen would do something about that little bastard, but right now he had more things to worry about.

Fuu was trying to pull away from him again, and she looked mad, though none of these things meant anything to him. No, what really shook the fear in his bones were the big tears that had started rolling down her cheeks, each at least thirty seconds behind the other.

Not those tears again, anything but her tears. Why did they have to effect him now? Fucking why? Mugen refused to belief that all it took was a week alone with Fuu to turn him into some softy who crumbled when he saw a woman's tears. "Damn it don't do that!" He blurted, not sure of anything else to say.

Fuu's wet eyes widened. 'What?' She lifted her head, her cheeks glistening with salty water droplets, and she found herself so very close to that cold, dark face. 'Too close…' He sounded angry, and he looked angry, but there was something inside her that told Fuu he wasn't. 'What doesn't he want me to do?'

The confused look he read on her face was an annoyance. She should have known what he was talking about. "I'm sorry alright? Just knock it off." With these words he released her previously captive wrists.

As soon as he did this he excepted her to run away again, or at least pull herself quickly outside of his reach. But she didn't do either, she merely stood there, her knees shaking the tiniest bit.

Two more great tears came down the sides of her face, and without thinking he reached up and caught them on his thumbs. "I said stop!"

She flinched on his touch and the volume of his voice, or so he thought. He quickly removed his hands from her face, and continuing in a more hushed, but still ruff tone said. "Ain't no reason to waste tears a guy like me. 'Guess nobody ever told you criminals and murderers don't get friends."

Once he had said it part of Mugen wished he could take it back. The look on her face, and what she did next was enough to do that. Fuu clutched her kimono, somewhere near her heart, and into his shirt started crying again.

At first the feel of her head against his chest startled him, and all Mugen could do was stare down at her. But somewhere between her incomprehensible words and the time when his shirt started to feel damp one of his hands found it's way on to her head. Applying just enough pressure to let her know it was ok, what she was doing. Her brown hair was soft, just like her skin had been. 'God damn stupid…stupid…'

"Now what're you crying for?" He heard a small hick-up, and thought it some sort of an answer until she turned her head and mumbled "You're such an idiot."

Mugen wasn't sure what that meant, but the warm feeling from before told him that some, if not most, of those tears were for him, and for a few seconds he allowed himself a genuine smile. It felt kinda good, being cried for.

'But it ain't stayin' warm, and all good feelings gotta come to an end sometime…' He reminded himself. Mugen knew he had to say something to her, something that the 'real' Mugen would say. The smile faded from his stubble edged lips, and his eyebrows furrowed downward once again with the air of a person who was annoyed with the insignificance of the world around them.

"Fine, get all that sentimental shit out of the way now. But you better not cry again 'til we leave. Ya got that?" He barked at her, hoping to restore the "natural balance of things".

Fuu lifted her head from it's deep burrow in his red shirt, wiped her cheeks, and when she looked back up at him she forced a small smile on her lips. "K." She said, her voice was soft and almost innocent, like a child's.

After her cheeks was cleared of tears she soured her face once again in annoyance. "But I'm still mad at you." Mugen let out a sigh of exasperation, and came to the conclusion that women were impossible to please.

"Fine, what'dya want me to do? Nothin's worse then that Dutch shit." He said, finally giving up on any hope he had of coming out of this without any casualties. But Fuu shook her head no. She didn't want him to _do _anything. After all, it was his words that had hurt her most, so she would make him say something else to make up for it.

The confused look on his face almost made her laugh, but she wouldn't let herself. She had to stay serious, or he wouldn't take it seriously either. "You gotta promise you'll never make fun of what I say ever again."

Mugen snorted. Leave it to Fuu to make some stupid request like that. "Ya know, promises ain't really my thing." He said in a tease. "The last time I made one I got stuck with this big pain in the ass who was lookin' for some bastard she knew, though the idiot had no idea what he looked like."

Fuu glared at him, not amused with his teasing. "Mugen…" He glared back, then sighed sarcastically. "Fine." "Thank you."

Now that that was settled Fuu could move on to more important things, like yelling at him. "Did Eseme say you could use your arm already?" Mugen snorted, a small voice in the back of his mind had told him she was going to ask this. "She let me go without wrappin' it that's what you mean."

She poked him near his chest bone. "So it doesn't hurt anymore?" Mugen flinched from the small shockwave created by her touch. "Oh no, just when you do that!" He growled. "Sorry."

Her eyebrows furrowed again with a trace of worry written in them. "What about your other wounds? Has Eseme been--" "Annoying the hell outta me? Yeah!"

Fuu almost laughed, in her mind imagining Eseme trying to make Mugen hold still while she wrapped him up with bandages. "Well, that's what you get."

She turned back to the sunflowers on the floor, previously forgotten, picking again at the one she had dropped. "Now, are you gonna help me?" Mugen looked at her with a 'say what' expression. "With what…"

"This." Fuu held up a half plucked sunflower head, sitting back down on the floor. "Eseme wanted me to finish getting these sunflowers ready so she could make medicine and stuff out of them." Mugen raised his eyebrow, and reluctantly sat down next to Fuu, staring at the other three un-dissected sunflowers.

"What kinda shit can ya make out of flowers?" Mugen wanted to know. The idea seemed ridiculous to him, as the old flower products he had ever come in contact with were either perfumes or poisons. Fuu continued plucking out the seeds and throwing them in a large glass jar. Next to that was a blue pigmented one full of the large dried petals.

"I don't know, she said something about oils from the seeds, lubricants from the stems, and painkillers from roots." Mugen eyed the head nearest him suspiciously, then plucked one of the seeds from it's place. "So that rat eats these things?"

Fuu didn't look up from her work, but she smiled and said, "He's a squirrel and yup, he loves sunflower seeds. People can eat 'em too ya know." Mugen snorted, as if he didn't believe her about that one either. Fuu noted his show of disbelief and scowled at him in response. With a slight snap in her wrist she plucked a seed pod from the glass container with it's companions and shoved it in his face. "Here, if you don't believe me then go ahead and try one yourself.

Mugen looked at the small pointy thing for a few seconds, then, finally decided to play along, he took it. "Do ya eat the whole thing? Most seeds got shells to take off." He asked, an amateur question obviously, but you couldn't be too careful about nuts.

Fuu almost couldn't stop herself from laughing. The question was so silly. "Of course, it's just the inside that's good."

Mugen, after a few failed attempts, freed the white edible from inside it's hard casing, and popped it in his mouth.

She watched his face as his taste buds discovered the new food, and was highly amused by the final result: a look somewhat between boredom and disgust. "That didn't taste like nothing." "Well I didn't say they tasted _great_."

Mugen shrugged off the topic, not interested in another attempt at liking these 'sunflower seeds.' Instead he picked up one of the other flowers and started vigorously plucking each seed from their pouches, making sure to glare at each one as he threw them into the jar. This amount of effort made Fuu laugh.

Meanwhile Momo let his gray coat smooth down again, and had taken to sitting on Fuu's knee, with a begging look on his furry face.

An hour or so past like this, mutual silence,--with the exception of the occasional chirp from Momo--and the plucking and plinking of the seeds into jars setting the rhythm.

After a considerable amount of time had passed Mugen's senses perked, and he turned his nose to the window, smelling a familiar sent gathering in the air outside. All the while they had been working it had slowly grown darker with the condensing of large storm clouds. "Don't scream." He said coolly, keeping his eyes on the sunflower he was torturing. Fuu lifted her head, a look of confusion written on her face. "What's that 'spose to mean?"

Not a second after Fuu had asked her question a loud clap of thunder shook the old house, causing her to jump, and, as Mugen had predicted, scream.

Mugen smirked at his success, and almost chuckled at the startled look on her face, which had quickly replaced the former one of confusion. "'Told ya."

Fuu, after collecting herself, stuck her tongue out at him. Not amused by his sudden knowledge of when or when not a loud noise would occur. Having done this, she returned to her almost bald flower, still a little shaken.

A moment of silence passed before Fuu spoke again, she asked. "Did you learn how to do that on Ruyoko?"

Mugen didn't look up at her, he didn't like talking about his past on the island of sinners—except in a brag—, but eventually he answered. "It's on the ocean, so you get to knowin' the signs when a storm's comein' in. And the thunder was just a lucky guess."

"What about that trick you pulled on me, did you learn that there too?" Fuu was getting curious, curious about how many questions she could ask before he yelled at her for it. Mugen snorted. "What do you think?"

Fuu thought about this for a second. "I think you figured out how to do that so you could get away from authorities and stuff." Mugen looked at her out of the corner of his eye with a skeptical air. "You don't know much do you? If ya' play dead for those bastards they'll make _sure_ you're dead." "Like throwing him in a river?" Fuu asked, her imagination running loose.

"Heh, they'd probly skewer the guy first, make lots a blood run down the road, _then_ thrown him in a river."

A couple minutes were spent in silence once again after his some-what gory sentence. Then Fuu got up and went to the door, sliding it aside. Outside she found a heavy downpour of water, millions of droplets crashing to the cold valley dirt, running as if for their lives from the clouds from which they came.

After a moment's debate with himself, Mugen joined her in the doorway, keeping a small distance between them. 'Ain't seen it rain like this in a while…' He took another minute to stare at the violent wall of water, and for a second he noticed Fuu shiver, though he chose not to act on it.

"I guess you had a pretty rough time growing up, huh?" Fuu said as she burrowed her hands deep into the folds of her kimono beneath her arms. Mugen looked down at her, seeking an answer to this new interest in his past on her face, though he found nothing. When in doubt pretend you don't care. That was his motto.

"'Depends on what you're idea of rough is." He said, slumping against the doorframe in a show of boredom with the subject.

Fuu thought about this for a minute, drying to pick from a long list of thoughts the best answer. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of Eseme's purple flowers getting tossed around by the constant bombardment of raindrops, and got a brilliant idea.

She turned ran back into the kitchen, quickly dumped the seeds from one of the jars in a pile on the floor, and ran back out onto the porch again with the empty glass jar. Without a moment's hesitation she stepped out into the cold, getting drenched fast.

Mugen wondered what the hell she could be doing. 'Collecting rain water?" But it came as a large surprise to him when she knelt down, keeping her knees out of the mud, and placed the jar face down into the dirt over the puny flower. With a wet clump of hair winding down the middle of her face she turned her head back to him, and smiled. "I guess my idea of tough is not having anybody to help when you need it."

to be continued!

X3 ok, um, so this is suppose to be some kinda pathetic cliff hanger……cuz ima pick it up right from that line de next chappie.


	10. Sake does strange things

. plushi again! sparkly-teary-Fuu-eyes an' I can't believe it! Bizzybee, my Fuu/Mugen roll model, likes my story! Sigh….so happy…. Anyway, thanks for all the AWESOME reviews, I luuuuuuv 'em, live for 'em, eat 'em… Ok, the last one's not viable, but whatever. I don't have much to say for this chappie, tho I will say this intense stare into the audience mk.bean….. im gonna make u complain some more!

Mugen wondered what the hell she could be doing. 'Collecting rain water?' It came as a large surprise to him when she knelt down, keeping her knees out of the mud, and placed the jar face down into the dirt over the puny flower. With a wet clump of hair winding down the middle of her face she turned her head back to him, and smiled. "I guess my idea of tough is not having anybody to help when you need it."

Another clash of thunder ranger overhead, quickly followed by a large flash of lightning. It's brightness was enough to light the dark valley, if only for a second. But that second was enough to show Mugen that Fuu wasn't kidding, her eyes were too sincere, the small smile on her face too warm.

The rain continued to poor down on the isolated town, drowning the earth in sky's tears. For a moment Mugen felt as if he were the one standing in the rain, as if he were the one shivering and wet. What was she doing to him? How could mere words make a person feel like this? Never in his life had he felt this numb.

It wasn't as if her definition of rough was wrong, but, it seemed too simple. Sure, growing up the only people he remembered having with him were his so called "friends." But in the end, they betrayed him, twice. Mugen refused to believe that anyone could have such a childish view of hardship, pain, suffering. Maybe not even royalty, or rich people. But Fuu was no Lady, of that he was sure, her manners, habits, the way she talked, all spoke otherwise.

Was she hiding something? Or was that really what she thought? The matter confused him.

Was she trying to tell him something? Or was it just his imagination running wild from lack of excitement?

Either way there were things about her that he would never understand, like why she was still kneeling in the rain.

When he came out of his thoughts he found her gazing at the other flowers who hadn't bloomed late. The ones that looked like they were enjoying the rain, not struggling against it.

Her hair was plastered to her head, and the back of her neck, her cloths clinging to her skin. 'Damn…' Under different circumstances this would have created an irresistible attraction. If it had been another woman he would have lost control of his better senses, but this was Fuu.

And although he wasn't loosing his mind from the takeover of sexual desires she was still driving him crazy. He couldn't understand, why in all hells was she still out there? What was it about her and flowers? 'If I think keep thinkin' so much my heads gonna explode…' Mugen growled to himself, trying to decide what to do.

If he let her just stay there she could get sick, and that would pro-long their stay in this god forsaken village. But if he went out, and tried to do something about her…it would be a blow to any walls or barriers he had been building to keep her out in the past few hours.

Finally his conscious--or what substituted for a conscience--told him to go out there and yell some sense into her. Which was exactly what he did.

Stepping into the cold rain Mugen came up from behind Fuu, grabbed her under the arms from behind, and lifted her to her feet. Ironically, she was the heaviest thing he had been allowed to lift since the fight in the forest. It was a small relief that this had only the smallest effect on him, his arm didn't hurt.

Fuu, however, wasn't expecting this sudden action, so when she felt his hands grab her sides she jumped. Although it had no effect on his short embrace.

"What the hell are you doing now? Damn it, if you get sick we're gonna be here longer!" Mugen yelled, the volume his voice dulled and challenged by the volume of the storm.

Fuu stared at him with a look of bewilderment, then she finally understood, and laughed. "But Mugen, I like it out in the rain." She cooed, twirling around with her arms spread out, like she was trying to soak up the water too. Just like the flowers.

Mugen wouldn't fall for her cuteness, not this time. He grabbed one of her arms, ceasing her pointless spinning. "I don't care whether you like it or not, if you stay out you'll get--" "Sick?" She interrupted, throwing some of his own medicine in his face.

Another boom of thunder rang, and Mugen began to wonder if it was useless to argue with her. 'Why are women so damn difficult…' He gave her arm a tug, pulling her closer to the porch, closer to him. The predicament was starting to annoy him, not only was he standing out in the rain, he was standing out in the rain getting WET.

His wild, afro like hair was beginning to sag and press closer to his head from the force of the rain. And the freezing water running down the back of his neck was almost un-nerving.

"Haven't you ever just stood out in the rain for no reason?" Fuu asked, looked up into his distant eyes with a bounce in her voice. "I've stood in the rain cuz I had no roof, does that count?" He answered grimly.

Fuu shivered, whether from Mugen's words, or from the cold breeze that whipped passed them she couldn't decide. She wondered if he was serious, or if it was just something he was saying to be…well, Mugen. Before she had more time to contemplate his answer she found herself being held by the waist, and carried back under shelter of the wooden porch.

"Mugen!" She screeched was he lifted her so that her feet dangled off the ground. "What are you--" "I'm tired of waitin' out here for you to get you're ass back in, so I'm movin' it for you." The roof shielded them from the constant downpour, and they could see clearly again, without any water being blown in their eyes. "See all the fuckin' trouble you cause me?" He said as he put her back down, her heels slowly coming to touch the smooth, dark wooden surface.

For a moment Fuu stayed with her body pressed loosely against his, the warm feeling seemed so familiar, yet so distant. This touch made her heart beat increase just a tiny bit, her cheeks nearly at a flush. As wet and shivery as she was the warmth of his chest made her want to stay there, nuzzling again in the red and white folds of his shirts.

She knew what would happen next, another long moment of silence, with a lingering essence of awkwardness. However, this time she wasn't going to leave room for that silly silence. No, this time she made sure his attention stayed her, on them.

"You're bandages must have gotten wet huh?" She asked, chewing almost guiltily on her pointer finger. The thought hadn't occurred to Mugen, and it was of no great importance to him. "Maybe. It don't matter to me, those scraps are almost gone anyway."

"Still, I'd like to make sure. After all, if you get worse we're stuck here longer." Again she had taken his words and twisted them back on him, like she had that first day.

This talk annoyed Mugen, her concern annoyed him. "Hey, if I can lift you're heavy ass I think that counts as better." Fuu choose to ignore this comment, and started back into the house to get the needed materials from Eseme's office.

However, no sooner had she done this did she felt herself being pulled down my Mugen's forceful grasp on her wrist. Before she had time to question him he was headed in the same direction she had been. The only word she got from him before he disappeared around the corner was: "Stay."

Her curiosity over his strange actions was battling with her annoyance at being order like a pet to sit and wait for its master.

However, her attention was soon re-directed to Momo, who leapt onto her shoulder as another crack of lightning crashed down on the valley. Hiding his furry head in the corner of her neck.

She petted him, trying to calm her friend of his shakiness. "Don't worry Momo, the storm's out there, and we're in here." "Chir!" He cried in an attempt to explain to her that the _noise_ was inside too.

"Besides, we've got Mugen to protect us." Fuu laughed, sure she had seen Momo stick his tongue out at this last sentence.

Only a few seconds after these words had left her mouth did she realize how strange they sounded. Was it childish to say that he could protect her from anything? 'Duh.' A blush came to her cheeks as she continued to ponder this subject. Since they had been separated from Jin she had noticed that he had become more open with his views on her safety. Where as before he would have acted like he cared more for the bowl of eel and rice before him.

Many times, she thought, he had come to her rescue. But never before had it effected her like this, never before had it made her heart beat the way it was. That night, nearly a week ago, when he had taken her battered hands in his, the incident at the river, and what he said "…I _will_ protect you…"

Fuu shook her head vigorously from side to side, trying to throw such foolish thoughts from her head. 'Idiot!' She yelled at herself. That had been a dream! Hadn't it?

She had never really asked Mugen about it…For all she knew she had dreamt the whole thing and could label it nothing more then a girlish fantasy.

'Besides, even under the influence of sake, the Mugen I know would never act like that.' She thought, a new confidence on the matter grasping her heart painfully. A large part of this sudden sadness came from the fact that the first time she had been held by a boy that way…was all in her head.

She sighed. Everything that had happened just seemed like too much to fit into a week. 'Actually…more like…a week and a half.' Fuu counted on her fingers and decided that they had been on their own approximately that long.

A gust of wind blew into the semi-sheltered porch area, wrapping itself around Fuu. She shivered, folding her arms over her chest. "It's c-cold…" This serviced as a wake up call to her, pulling her from her thoughts.

It also called her attention to the length of time that Mugen had been gone. "I wonder if he got lost?" She said to Momo, who was lying lazily in front of her. As she was now colder then the floor.

"Idiot." Came a familiar, gruff voice. When Fuu turned her head to say something back she found herself being captured by large, white blanket. "Eh?"

Mugen had dropped it over her head carelessly, it was one of the things he had retrieved while she was waiting for him.

Fuu pulled her head out, and wrapped the warm blanket around her shoulders, grateful for this new source of heat. She looked at the other things he had brought back with him as he laid them on the ground, then plopped down himself. The bandages she had wanted, the blanket, and…a bottle of…sake?

"Where'd you get that?" She asked, pointing. From what she knew of Eseme, the woman didn't drink. And there was no way Mugen had enough money for a whole bottle right now. Mugen picked up the item in question, shook it in a circular motion once or twice, then put it back down again. "There was a bunch a money in a box, so I got bought it off a dude in the street yesterday."

"Mugen! That was Eseme's money box from the shop!" Mugen, disregarding her comment, uncorked the bottle and took a large gulp from it.

'Ahh… Regular alcohol…' "Did you hear me?" She asked again, obviously annoyed with him for stealing Eseme's money.

For an answer she got the bottle shoved in her face. "Yeah." At first she only stared at it, not quite sure what to do.

After keeping his arm outstretched to her for a couple seconds Mugen began to think she either didn't want a drink, or was just being stupid. "What, never had a drink before?" He asked, his usual taunting tone hanging on his words.

Fuu blinked, then, almost timidly, reached out and took the bottle. But she just continued to stare at it. The only time she had ever been drunk was on accident, when she had mistaken sake for water. Shortly after she had passed out, and when she woke found that she had been kidnapped. Since then she had be dodge of alcohol and other such things.

Mugen wondered what she could be waiting for, he didn't think about the last time she had had sake, the thought never came to him. Though of the two, it would be assumed that he would remember more easily. That night a mad man wanting revenge for his lost limb had poisoned him and Fuu was the bait. The fact that she had been drunk made her inevitable capture easier, since Jin wouldn't have been quite so easily lured away. Even though her captivity was less the reason for him showing up as the antidote had been.

Finally, out of one part annoyance and two parts want of his sake back, Mugen pushed the bottle to her lips and tipped it upwards.

Without warning the warm liquid poured into her mouth, and after a small gulp the air got caught in her throat and she coughed. "Mugen!" She said, her voice cracked a tiny bit as she pushed the drink back at him.

He pretended not to care and took another swig, staring out at the ever raging storm. Fuu wiped a drop of sake from the corner of her mouth and pulled the blanket back up on her right shoulder, as it had fallen in off the hubbub. She had to admit, with the warm drink in her belly she felt a little better.

"Thanks." She said, finally clearing the last of the cough from her lungs. Though his tactics might have been considered rude, or in this case borderline brutal, she had a feeling he knew the sake would have this effect on her.

He shrugged her appreciation off with a quiet "Whatever" and offered her another go. This time she wasn't so hesitant, but made sure to take a small, slow sip. Then gave it back.

And so another half our passed. Both of them leaning with their backs against the wall of the house, the rain and wind playing just beyond the edge of the roof. The water that had been blown onto the porch slowly creeping towards their outstretched feet, and the sake bottle switching hands, and mouths.

By the time Fuu realized that sharing anything this way could be considered a form of kissing she was feeling much too light headed to care. The sake was having a rather strong effect on her, as it was one of her first times drinking such a large amount. And she was feeling very tired all of a sudden, although she had no idea what time of day it was.

Fuu hadn't been sleeping very well the past three days, hadn't been getting much sleep, and now this sleep deprivation was beginning to kick in.

"Mugen, I think I might be drunk." She said, her head falling heavily on his shoulder. "Eh?" He looked at her from the corner of his eye, not prepared for the sudden contact. All he could see was a mass of brown, somewhat dry, hair.

He shook the bottle again in a circular motion, and heard a slosh at the bottom, showing that there was still some left. 'Guez…she's a lightweight.' He had drunk a little more then half of what she had, and he was barely beginning to feel a tingle from the rice wine.

For a second he considered shoving her off, but then he felt her nuzzle her head into his shoulder, and saw her eyes close. The strange feeling came back, and he had an almost irresistible erg to drape his arm around her and pull her even closer. 'God damn it…'

It annoyed him greatly, this "need", and he did his best to ignore the damp, drunk woman beside him. He took another large gulp, emptying the bottle, then put it down next to him on his Fuu-free side.

"It's raining a lot…" Fuu mumbled into his sleeve, her eyes open again, starring out at the storm in front of them. Mugen snorted, clearly not impressed by nature's show. "Eh this is nothin'. You shoulda seen the rain we got on Ryuukyuu. It could rain for days."

"Cuz it was on the ocean?" "How should I know?" He answered, his voice a little slurred. He was starting to feel a little lightheaded too.

"Why do they put people there?" "Cuz they piss the law off." "Do you have to stay there?" "If ya don't wanna be shot." "So they have people watching everybody all the time?" "No."

And so their drunken banter continued, neither really thinking about their answers, or their questions. If they had been talking about themselves it could have been considered the peek of their odd relationship. However, the subjects varied from why women wear breast wraps to why it rains.

Then they both slipped into a state close to sleep. By this time Mugen had tipped over on, now laying with his back to the floor. And Fuu, instead of leaning against him, was laying halfway on top of him, her head and part of her torso on his chest. The blanket still covered most of Fuu, but now some of it was spread out over Mugen too, though a lot of it was bunched up in the corner between them and the wall.

It is said the sake does strange things to people, or it makes them do strange things. Well, this, was one of those things. Had either of them been sober the result would have been very different, and instead of simply laying as they were, one of them surely would have screamed.

Though the alcohol had dimmed her senses, Fuu could still feel from the rhythm of Mugen's breath that he was as sleepy as she was, and wondered if he had had trouble sleeping too. 'It's so warm…' She thought in her drowsiness.

She dried out considerably, but was still plagued with goose-bumps, and occasional shivers. So the warmth emitted from Mugen's body was a great comfort. One of her arms was pressed to her side, it's hand clutching a fistful of Mugen's shirt. While the other stretched out along Mugen's head. Her legs were curled in too, as if half her body was a neat ball of yarn, as the other half was an outstretched and un-orderly mess.

Mugen's position was much simpler, he was stretched out, with his right hand behind his head, the left laying at his side, almost limply. The burden of this girl on his chest was nothing, constricting his breathing very little, and there were no voices in his head except those which were created by the sake. Nothing telling him to run, and nothing telling him to stay. Though there was something weird about the situation that he just couldn't put his finger on…

"Mugen?" Fuu asked, breaking a long, sleepy silence. "What?" "Did you mean it?" Fuu really hadn't intended on asking him, it just sort of happened. "Mean what?" "What you said, after we meet Eseme."

He had to think a little, but when he realized what she was asking, out of impulse, he lied and answered "I don't know what the hell you're talkin' about." "Ok."

Fuu was a little too drunk to register what that answer meant, but the alcohol which had presently taken over her brain seemed content with the it. So she let it be, and began to drift back into that in-and-out-of-sleep state she had been in for the past half hour.

But then Mugen asked "What'r you lookin for that sunflower guy for?" She lifted her head a little bit, re-adjusting it against his neck. Fuu, being drunk, and not sure if she wanted to tell him the truth, simply replied, "I promised somebody I would."

Mugen snorted. "Lemme guess, some lover on their deathbed made ya promise to find their killer?" The flush on Fuu's checks from the sake was magnified by her embarrassment at his assumption. "No." She said as firmly as she could. His guess was partially correct.

"Then who?" Fuu sighed quietly, then, slowly slipping towards drunken unconsciousness mumbled, "My mom." Mugen wanted to ask her more about this samurai, why her mom would want her to find him, but then he felt her left hand move to touch his neck.

"Where'd you get that?" She asked, running a finger clumsily over the scar she had been wondering about. Her cold fingers sent shivers down his spin, and he felt a physical urge to hold her. Momentarily blocking his mind from thinking about her question.

"Mugen?" She asked, wanting to know if maybe he had fallen asleep. Her eyes were closed, and her head felt too heavy to lift and see if his were closed too.

Mugen furrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember, at the same time trying to imagine her as something revolting and gross. 'If I just wait long enough she'll fall asleep…'

But then the dimmed memory came to him. It had been a long time ago, back when he was still living on Ryuukyuu. Story telling wasn't one of his usual customs, then again, falling asleep with women without having sex with them wasn't one of his usual customs either.

"Eh, just a mark I got for bein' big-headed." "Guess ya didn't learn the lesson did you?" Mugen snorted, her attempted joke was borderline funny. "Whatever."

"What'd ya do?" "Tried to kill this authority bastard who'd been on my case." "Did ya get to kill him?" "No. By the time I got good enough to kick his ass the guy had been killed by somebody else." "Oh..."

Mugen could feel her breath evening out, the rise and fall of her chest taking on a slow rhythm, and knew she was just a step away from sleep's door. This was an interesting experience for him, even if it was dimmed by his drunkenness. It seemed a little familiar, like when he had watched her sleeping in the forest, while they were still with Jin. But that was nothing compared to this. Now, she was more vulnerable then she had ever been, more fragile. He knew she knew his womanly habits, his views on them, but here she was, laying innocently on his chest. The right half of her face pressed into his shirt, one of her hands behind his neck, the other resting on his arm.

The storm outside seemed to have lessened some, though the wind was still blowing, and the rain was still falling. Just less intensely.

Mugen lifted his head and after bringing his eyes to focus realized that he could looked into her now untidily wrapped kimono and see the tops of her breasts. He was quick to avert his eyes, feeling an unusual guilt in the back of his mind. As if he had no right to look at them.

Instead he let his head fall back again, turned to the right this time to watch the rain once more before his eyes closed and he too, fell asleep. As soon as he had done this Momo came from his hiding place and curled himself into a ball under Fuu's arm.

The three slept undisturbed for no longer then ten minutes before Eseme discovered them. The elderly woman had been busy working around the house. Straitening things, washing dishes, ect… An hour after the storm started she had begun to wonder what could be taking them so long. And another hour after that she decided to go look and make sure they hadn't killed each other. All around the house she looked, and when she saw the pile of sunflower seeds and the forgotten heads she became more curious. 'What in de world?'

When she looked for them outside at first she didn't see them, but when she did she smiled. The bottle of sake as visible on Mugen's right side, the unused bandages a few feet away. She recognized the blanket over Fuu as the one she had placed in her room.

'Ah, so dats where you've been.' She chuckled quietly, not wanting to disturb them.

There was nothing "wrong" with the way they were. Any other well brought up, respectable(aka: tight-assed) old woman would have gasped in horror and poured holy water on them. But Eseme only laughed.

She remembered what it was like to be young and innocent, well…the innocent mostly referred to Fuu, but it was all the same in her book. She remembered how she and her late husband had once laid out in much a similar way.

Eseme turned her head so that her old eyes could gaze at the subsiding storm. 'Dat's right…I almost forgot.' Tomorrow was Bahck's birthday, and every year she climbed up the side of the valley to his grave.

As she walked back to her room she wondered if there was any way she could leave Mugen and Fuu at home. Or should she take them with her? The trail was beautiful, so she knew Fuu would enjoy it, and it was a long climb, so Mugen could have a chance to get rid of some of his excess energy.

"Yes, I tink dat would be a good idea." She said to herself as she took down her grey hair from it's tight bun on the top of her head. The reflection in the mirror showed, not the young, beautiful Dutch woman it had once been, but instead an aged, and slightly altered version of that previous image. Her once brown hair wasn't as thick, now that it had turned grey. Her face was accented with wrinkles, though her skin was just as white as it had been when she was a girl.

The crème yellow Kimono she was wearing looked almost out of place with her European features. Everyone else in this town looked so different, but they all welcomed her like a family member. She had heard stories about how some Europeans had been treated in Japan and other Asian countries. So she was grateful for these relationships.

As she ran a brush through her hair she smiled, and tried to picture her late husband standing beside her, a smile on his bearded face too.

Early morning light floated past the cloud cleared sky into Fuu's eyes, and she stirred. The first thing she felt was a pain in her head. The second was a stranger feeling, as if something was moving underneath her. Up and down, up and down. Almost like the rhythm of someone's breath.

Her eyelids fluttered open, and at first she thought the headache was disrupting her vision, for she was sure that she staring into a red pillow. But to her shock she soon realized that the rhythm she had felt before was indeed someone's breath, and the red was not a pillow, but someone's shirt. That someone was Mugen.

It came back to her, the sake, the storm, and though everything else was a blur the last thing she remembered was falling asleep with a not so sober Mugen. How could she have let that happen? 'Oh well, it doesn't matter now…'

Carefully she lifted her head from the warm of his chest, hoping that he wouldn't wake up too. The blanket they had shared the night before slid down her shoulders as she rose, changing her position so that she was no longer a burden on him.

Her first intention had been to run as soon as she got off. However, when she looked back at his sleeping face she felt as though she were stuck in that place, curled by his side. The early morning's misty dawn was playing tricks with her eyes, for in them he looked handsome.

Relaxed, that was the word. His eyebrows no longer pierced past his eyelids like angry swords, but instead were horizontal with the rest of his face. The way his hair had adjusted to his sleeping position made him look scruffier then usual. Some of it had gotten in his face, like hands holding him down.

Fuu would have reached out and brushed these hairs back into their places, had her better sense told her not to. If she woke him up it would be the most awkward position she had ever been in, including all those times when she was kidnapped into brothels.

Carefully scooping up Momo from his place she stood up and snuck back into the house. She stood behind the wall with her ear pressed to it for a few seconds, waiting to see if she had woken Mugen.

When she heard no sound from her sleeping companion she continued her tip-toed escape back to the bedrooms. 'That was close.'

Her heart was pounding like nothing she had ever felt before, she had just spent god knows how long nearly cuddling with Mugen. Mugen! It wasn't suppose to go this way, Jin and Mugen were only supose to be her body guards, protectors while she searched for her father. Yet her she was, thinking of Jin as a brother, and Mugen…well…she would figure out what she felt for Mugen later. Though she knew there was no hope in him meaning nothing to her, the things she had done lately were testimony to that.

She sighed when she came to the doorway of her room, but when she looked inside she realized that the blanket outside with Mugen was hers. Fuu didn't want to bother Eseme by asking her to get another one, she would just have to sleep in Mugen's bed until it was time to get up.

As Fuu slipped under the covers she wondered if there was anyway Mugen had gotten so drunk that he wouldn't remember last night. 'That would be best…right?' She thought, as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep her way out of her pounding head.

Mugen had woken when he felt Fuu's head leave his chest, though he thought it better to pretend to be asleep. He waited, aware of all the careful movements she made. It almost hurt him when she got up and left, obviously sober again and in her right mind. 'Fucking damn women…' He groaned and rolled over on his stomach, the cold floor of the porch was merciless against his skin.

a rice-wine, served hot, cold (or in this case warm); one of the major alcoholic beverages in Japan and some other Asian countries

More to come! .


	11. A beautiful day ruined

Plushiplushi-chan here! 3 ((…..I'm so lame….-.-……)) anyway, I've decided to dedicate this part right here where I usually make stupid writer comments to my comments on your comments:

Bizzybee  
You most certainly are, had I not read you're story I would not have become addicted, but instead stayed merle a 'guee…those two r kinda sorta I guess cute…' fan .

The day was fresh. The Earth had been revived and cleaned by the previous night's storm. The ground sparkled and dazzled as the morning sunshine reflected off the rain drops lingering atop the soil.

Out of the household of three Eseme was the only one awake to see the world in such glory. 'Happy birthday Bahck.' She thought as she lifted her head from the pillow to gaze out the window at her right. The sun had just finished it's climb over the towering mountain, whose peak shaded the valley during the day. Rosy clouds spread wide across the sky, painting a beautiful picture for the start of a gorgeous day.

Eseme brushed her tangled gray locks and dressed herself in a fresh kimono. Blue and green fabric inlayed with tiny sunflower-like patterns, his favorite. Eseme pushed aside the rice-paper doorway that cut her room off from the rest of the house--none of the other rooms had doors--, started down the hall towards Fuu's room. As it was now customary to go wake Fuu before she did any house chores or opened up the shop.

But as she walked passed Fuu's doorway she realized that Fuu was not in her bed. It took her a moment to remember her 'discovery' last night, and when she did she laughed to herself. This smile however, faded into a look of confusion as she passed Mugen's room. Inside, under the covers was a small lump. A small lump which she recognized to be Fuu. 'What in de world?'

It confused her, why was Fuu in Mugen's bed? Where was Mugen, for that matter? Surely Fuu hadn't left him outside? But as the older woman peered onto the porch she saw that was indeed what Fuu had done.

She quickly and not too quietly hurried back to her prier task. 'I wonder what happened…' Eseme thought as she knocked on the dark wooden doorframe, hoping to wake the sleeping girl.

At first Fuu thought that the noise she heard was the pounding in her head again, but she soon realized it was only Eseme. As she tried to stand up she felt a great wave of sickness, and she almost threw up on the bedding. "Uh…"

Eseme recognized these symptoms as the morning after effect of consuming more alcohol then necessary. "Fuu girlie you sit down, I bring you some tea and something for your stomach too, eh?" "Uh…" Was the answer she got from the woozy girl.

Fuu and Eseme had been working in the shop since seven that morning, and Fuu was beginning to feel the effects of the medicines wearing off.

Eseme had given her something for her stomach and her head, since both were hurting as a result of last night's drunkenness. "So Fuu girlie, was it worth it?" Eseme asked, a tease in the back of her throat.

Fuu nearly dropped the bottle of ointment she was polishing, and when she dared to look up at Eseme there was a terrified look in her surprised eyes. "I…uh…" What did Eseme mean by that? Was she referring to the alcohol or Mugen?

The older woman nearly broke down laughing, Fuu's reaction was just too perfect. "Why so surprised? You didn't think I would find you? Don't worry so much Fuu girlie, I think it was cute." 'Definitely Mugen…'

Fuu blushed until Eseme was sure her head would explode. So she put a hand on her shoulder, patting it. "Now, now, you have nuting to be embarrassed about Fuu girlie. It is a great thing, de two of you must have been outside talking for more den two hours before I came un found you both asleep as you were."

"Well, I don't think we really talked about anything. Just random…things…." While Fuu was try to think of the contents in their "conversation" she remembered something Mugen had said. "I don't know what the hell you're talkin about" 'So it was just a dream…'

Her face fell, now all hope she had had in that moment being real was gone. 'Oh well, why cry over something you never had in the first place?'

"Fuu?" "Oh, sorry Eseme. Uh, what did you ask?"

"It's not important. Anywho, care to tell me details? Old women need their gossip you know." Eseme said, her voice clouded by a warm chuckle.

Fuu continued her polishing work, not sure what to tell her. It all seemed so stupid, now that she thought back on it. "It doesn't matter Eseme, details are only good when there's a 'what if' behind them."

Eseme raised her gray eyebrow. "An der are no 'what ifs' for you two?"

"No. He'd never be interested." "Who'd never be interested in what?" Mugen asked, having decided to pop in and annoy the women.

"Ah! Mugen you jerk, you can't just sneak up on people like that!" Fuu yelled at him, this time she did drop the bottle in her hands. Fortunately, it was made of something duller than glass, so it didn't brake.

Mugen discarded Fuu's scolding with a shrug of his shoulders.

Eseme saw a golden opportunity, and she took it. "I had asked Fuu if she thought you would like coming wit us on a hike to the other side of the valley. Of course, I didn't think you would, it _is_ a long climb after all."

"Eh?" Mugen gave her a 'are you serious…' look. "What's that 'spose to mean? I could do that twice in one day, just watch me old woman."

Eseme chuckled at her own success. "Alright den, be ready to leave in ten minutes. We'll get der by lunch time, so go buy a little something from de market." Fuu licked her lips, wondering if she would get take out from that Hakato guy. Forgetting for the moment her painful realization.

It took them a grand total of fifteen minutes before all three people where ready and on their way to Bahck's grave site. The sun was shinning, the birds were chirping, and it seemed as if the whole forest had woken up in a cheerful mood.

Since Mugen and Fuu didn't know the way they followed behind Eseme, who, to Mugen's annoyance was going slower then he would have liked.

Fuu couldn't believe how beautiful everything was, the flowers, the trees, even the rocks seemed to glow in the golden mid-day light. It seemed to be some kind of fairy wonderland, like the ones you read about in fiction stories.

Mugen soon realized that Eseme's description of the journey had been exaggerated greatly. The trail wasn't very steep at all, in fact, it was barely uphill. They soon came to rock at the side of the road, and were surprised when Eseme stopped at it, then turned right and continued forward till she came to a much smaller rock.

With a small smile on her face she put down the bundle of flowers she had been carrying on the ground just before the strangely shaped stone.

"Eseme?" Fuu asked, putting a hand on the old woman's shoulder. "Are you alright?" Fuu realized that this was a grave sight, but who's grave she did not know.

"Oh yes Fuu, I am quite alright. This is where my dear Bahck, I come up her every year on his birthday and have lunch." "Oh…" Fuu said, surprised that Eseme's voice was strong and cheerful.

Mugen was sure that he would be sick soon, between the sentiment on Eseme's part, and the sympathy on Fuu's part it just wasn't his idea of a fun time.

"Would you like us to leave you alone Eseme?" Fuu asked. Eseme laughed. "No, no, lets eat first. Then I'll let you go explore some while I have a nice long chat with Bahck." She patted the ground as she said this.

They walked a little further before they came to Eseme's picnic spot. Fuu and Eseme spread out the old sheet Eseme had packed, so they'd have somewhere to sit that was not dirty. Mugen would hear of it, however, and sat down just at the edge.

After a while into the meal Eseme spoke up, having remembered something. "Oh, Fuu, dat reminds me. Ren Hakoto asked about you dis morning. He was wondering if you'd be interested in a job."

Fuu looked up from her dumpling, a curious sparkle in her brown eyes. "What did you tell him Eseme?"

The older woman gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. "I told him you probably wouldn't be interested because you're going to be leaving soon. Your two weeks are almost up you know."

Fuu's head fell remembering that soon she and Mugen would be on their way…again. She had come to like it very much in this simple town, and had come to like very much Eseme as well. Having a woman in her life again was great. As she was convinced that spending most of her time with two men was having a bad influence on her.

With a familiar twinkle in her eye Eseme continued, "I felt a little sorry giving him the news, he seemed so disappointed to hear that you were going."

At these words Fuu flushed. Not for any attraction she had for Ren, but out of embarrassment. This was not a topic she wanted to discus in front of Mugen. Though she had no reason to, it felt like something she shouldn't be doing. Like it was wrong, talking with Eseme about another boy.

Mugen pretended not to hear their "women talk", pretend that this Ren Hakoto didn't bother the hell out of him. Though he tried to deny it, he still felt a little sore with Fuu for leaving that morning, and this introduction to another man just made it worse. She could have come back if she wanted, but she didn't.

It was obvious to him that she only lay with him because her judgment and better sense had been impaired. Once she woke up--now sober--and realized what she had done, who she had fallen asleep with, she became disgusted and fled.

Seeing the color that came to her cheeks at the mention of Ren Hakato made him sick, and he lost his appetite. Dropping the remnants of his dumpling on the blanket he rose, picked up his sword and pressed out of the clearing into the dense collection of underbrush.

Fuu noticed this, and through half a mouthful of dumpling she asked. "Hey, where're you going?"

Mugen didn't answer, he was too pissed off to deal with her at the moment. Fuu, insulted by his refusal to answer her, stood up to follow. Stuffing the remainder of the steamy morsel in her mouth.

"Wait, don't just ignore me like that!" She protested as she ran up behind him.

Mugen growled, he didn't know why he was so upset. It wasn't like she was his woman. Sure, she was him in this god-forsaken journey, but she wasn't 'with' him. He had no obligation to be jealous just because some food vender was horny for her. 'Heh, no motivation's more like it.' The glimpse of her breasts he had caught the night before had ensured his theory on her 'size.'

So why was he? What would he have to do to make this feeling go away?

"Mugen, why are you so mad all of a sudden?" Her words and the feel of her hand pressed lightly against his arm woke him from his pointless thoughts.

He lost it, yelling at her with a harsh voice he stared, "Fuck it, I'm not--!"

The rouge samurai stared down into the eyes of the woman he had promised to protect, those large brown eyes didn't even blink at the sight of his rage with her. 'What the hell….' He could see that she really didn't know why he was mad, and her sudden bravery against him did something to him. 'Bravery, or trust?' Said that annoying voice. 'Damn, I thought I'd kill you, you sneaky bastard.'

Either way, he felt…guilty…for yelling at her, and he continued his sentence in a much more hushed, almost gentle tone. "I'm not mad."

This sudden change in attitude only worried Fuu more. It wasn't like Mugen to just speak to her like that out of nowhere.

"You're using an apologetic tone…Aren't you feeling well?" As she spoke she rose to her tiptoes to place her hand over his forehead to check for a fever. Mugen sighed inwardly, he probably had that coming. "Nothin's wrong with me."

And so he shrugged off conversation, not willing to carry it any further. Then carefully removed her hand from his head.

The almost gentle way he touched her sent a deep shiver up, down and back around her spin, tugging at her heart strings. For a moment she just stood there, transfixed. Until she realized that he had started walking again and she ran to catch up.

To Mugen's satisfaction he only had to walk a little farther before he came to a perfect training spot. A flat space surrounded by a variety of differently sized and composed rocks. Not to mention the abundance of plant-like things that needed to be cut down.

He started by stretching, then, once that was done, he jumped into a handstand.

Mugen had expected his arm to be a little sore, and maybe to object to the strenuous activity, but it actually felt good. He tried a few vertical pushups, and without touching the ground again practiced what he liked to call 'hit'n all the bastards, spin kicks'

Fuu had only seen him train once before, back a long time ago while they were staying at the temple. Fuu and Jin had been somewhat clueless as to why Mugen had been training so vigorously, though they suspected it had something to do with the town murderer.

That had been the first time she had seen him really passionate about something other then sex, food, or killing random people in a multi-opponent battle.

Now she sat watching him once again, perched on one of the rocks away from the reach of his sword or foot. After everything that had happened to him, seeing him so easily defeated by Rukono, it was a relief and almost a joy to see him back up to his full fighting potential. 'He can kick that jerks butt now, no doubt about it!' She thought enthusiastically, silently cheering him on.

It was a while later before Mugen even realized that Fuu was watching him. When he did he was in mid-strike on an attack of a particularly ominous tree branch. "Eh?" As fait would have it he missed pathetically, and Fuu had to laugh. "Aw common Mugen, I know you can get him. Show that tree who's boss!"

Mugen turned his head to stare at her with a look of utmost annoyance. The fact that she was cheering for him was obnoxious enough, but she was cheering him against a _tree_ for god sakes.

He realized there was nothing he could do to get her to leave him alone. So instead he did everything he could to keep himself from thinking about her. 'Haha, killed that bastard.' He thought almost gleefully as he fought off the vicious ferns and horrifying oaks. 'Damn trees can't fight for shit. What'd it be like if trees could kick ass? That'd be pretty sweet. I bet that Ren guy wouldn't last two minutes against a tree.'

Without realizing what he had done, Mugen suddenly became determined, inspired, to pull off his best moves. He'd show her alright. 'That cookin' bastard's got nothin' on me.' He thought as he continued to execute fancy flips, turns, hand-spins, and deadly slashes with his sword.

Watching him, Fuu couldn't help but be impressed. Never had she seen him perform anything quite like this. It almost seemed like he was trying to prove something.

'I bet Ren couldn't do that.'

As soon as she thought this she realized how terrible it was. She had only met this boy once, how could she possibly assume anything about him? For all she knew he was the best swordsman in the town.

She shook her head, attempting to shake the thoughts from within it. Whatever had possessed her to think such things was gone now, she told herself.

Half an hour later Mugen decided to take a break, and he let his sword fall to the ground. Only to follow shortly after it, making sure to land in a rock-less spot.

By this time Fuu had gotten bored, and had busied herself by playing with a bundle of flowers. Hearing the thump of his body lazily flopping to the ground she looked up. Out of habit the first thing she did was worry, but then she saw that he was only resting. Uncorking the canteen of water she had brought with her she stood up, and walked over to him.

Standing just beside him she leaned over, offering him a drink. When he made no response to her offer she sat down beside him, watching his chest rise and fall with a quickened pace. Suddenly she got an impulse, and she followed it.

Mugen was trying to look like he was collecting his thoughts, or some other kind of meditative shit. However his hard work was thrown away when he felt a small gush of cold water on his face. "What the hell?"

He opened his eyes to see Fuu, smirking at him with a somewhat evil twist to her lips. Seeing that it was only _her_ he closed his eyes, shrugging her off. However, to his annoyance she did it again.

"Damn it, do that again an' I'll hurt you." He growled. It made him sick to know that there was no truth behind that threat. Again, no sooner had he closed his eyes did she repeat her tease. His hair was now soaked with sweat and water, as was his face and some of his shirt.

"You!" He yelled through her laughter. Then he did something very un-Mugen like. He tackled her around the stomach, throwing them both over the small hillside to the left of his chosen training spot. Fuu shrieked as she felt them tumbling around and around, his body overlapping hers, then vice-versa, then back again. Every so often a drip of water from his hair would splash down onto her face, and she was sure her flushed face evaporated them.

Finally they came to a stop. By this time they had been jostled out of the wrestle position and Mugen's head had found it's way to her torso.

They didn't talk, but instead lay there on the forest floor. Both of them had leaves in their hair, Mugen's looking wilder then ever, Fuu's almost free around her shoulders.

It felt good, Mugen had to admit, laying in the upside down L their body's had created. His head rested just below her breasts, his shoulders against the sides of her stomach. She was the North and he was the East. Two very different things that just happened to be thrown together in a crazy system called "directions."

That was what they were, wasn't it? Two very different people, thrown together on a crazy quest. 'Maybe too different…' What could have passed off as almost smile faded from Mugen's features as he thought about the two of them. 'She'd want somebody who could give her a 'proper' name. 'Probly gotta have some kinda steady job too…Maybe even livin' parents. Somebody like him...' He thought bitterly, refering to Ren.

"So, now that your arm's better you can kick that snotty Rukono guy's ass. Then Eseme can tell me what she knows of the sunflower samurai and we can finally get out of here." Fuu said, distracting him from his depressing thoughts.

Mugen had no logical reason for it, but he felt like being mean to her. He knew he wasn't good enough and he'd prove to her just how not good enough he was.

"Don't you wanna stay?" Fuu propped herself up on her left elbow, and she gazed down at him with a questioning look. "Why would I wanna do that? The sunflower samurai's clearly not-" "What about your boyfriend? What's his name, Ten?"

Fuu was confused, what was he doing? What happened to having fun? Why was he mad again? "Mugen…are you-" "Tired of this fuckin' death trap? Hell yes. But if you wanna stay then fine by me, I can find my own way back."

"Mugen what are you talking about? When did I ever say I wanted to stay here?" Mugen sat up, glaring at her. "Don't gimme that shit, I know how much you like it here with that old Hag. Having a job again, and yay for you, there's a strait guy in this village who's willin to sleep with you for free!"

Tears welled in her eyes at each word that came from his mouth. When he finished she just sat there, they both sat in silence. Until she could take it no more, and in one quick motion she slapped him. Harder then she'd ever slapped anybody in her entire life. So hard that her hand hurt almost as much as her chest. Her lip trembled with words that wouldn't come, and as Mugen felt the pain of the blow he took another, the blow of her tears.

Finally a sound emerged from her throat, half a minute she had been waiting for it, and she couldn't think to the words back. "I HATE YOU!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, then she turned and fled into the forest. Leaving behind Mugen, and a few stray tears.

For what seemed like hours, days, weeks, Mugen sat, staring off into the direction she had run. Her words, they hurt him like hell. Not like the sting from the edge of a sword or like the feeling of betrayal he had received from Mukuro and Kaza. Not like the pain of her fist or even her tears. This was new, and it cut him much deeper.

The sun low in the sky by the time Mugen came back to the clearing to find Eseme. The old woman had been sitting, patiently waiting for the two. She knew something was wrong by the sadness in his eyes.

"Mugen? What happened tis time? Where's Fuu?" Mugen looked up at her, his eyes immediately drained of their previous emotion, were now filled with a panic he dried to deny. "She ain't with you?"

Eseme shook her head, her eyebrows furrowed in worry. "No, I thought she was still out wit you." "Damn…"

The elderly woman turned her head to look at the slowly creeping sun. If they didn't find Fuu soon they would have to go home, get lights, and come back. By the time they did that anything could have happened to her.

"We've got to look for her, she won't know the way back to my house, and none keeps fires going at night. There would be no smoke to follow, nor any lights. The Blackbirds banned it to keep unwanted attention from the village."

Mugen's thoughts were racing. If anything happened to her he would…it would… "Go home old hag." He said sharply. "What?"

"You heard me, I'll go looking for her. That little bitch ain't leaving me alone with _you_ all night." With this he leapt back into the bushes, a new speed in his feet.

Eseme sighed as she gathered her things and headed back down the hill. 'I hope he finds her…If he doesn't…' She shuddered, not wanting to think about what could happen to a defenseless girl alone in the forest at night.

The sun had gone down more then an hour ago, and Mugen was sure he had combed every inch of that god damned valley corner. But still no sign of Fuu, not a trial, nothing.

In his anger he punched a tree. "FUCK!" He yelled, startling a few creatures from their slumbering chambers.

Mugen knew there was nothing he could do, if he didn't get back soon he'd be lost out there too. And though a large part of him hated the thought he also knew that Eseme would want to know if he had found her or not.

All the long way back he cursed at himself, and her, and Eseme, and every other fucked up person in that damn village. This new part of him, this new softness, he knew it wouldn't let him leave without her. He'd be stuck here, until some sign of her showed up. If she was dead, then he'd leave, off to find another town to stay in until they kicked him out. If she was alive then they'd work their way back the way they had come, meet up with Jin again, and continue a seemingly pointless quest.

'Where the hell is she?'

Where the hell is Fuu?

Only the author knows ------

Ps. I'm soooo sorry about the long wait, but since school started I just don't have time for recreational writing anymore.


	12. Rukono the schemer, Fuu missing

Oooomg I luuuuuuv u guys! The reviews are awesome, ergo so are the reviewers.

Fuu knew it was morning. The sound of the birds chirping and the density of the light on her face told her so. Groggily she lifted her head from a soft futon, deep blankets slid down from her shoulders as she sat up. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes she wondered what time it was, if Eseme had already tired to wake her up.

However when she opened her eyes she screamed, seeing that the delicately carved walls surrounding her were not Eseme's. The blanket, the one-person futon, these were not Eseme's either. All these things were much richer, much more intricate, newer, and obviously more expensive. She stood, and found that all her cloths were still in place. Upon discovering this she let out a breath of relief, but remained frightened and weary of her surroundings.

Fuu tried to think back, but nowhere could she remember being kidnapped. Cautiously she walked up to the paper doors along one of the dark wooden walls, and pushed it open. As it moved across the smooth floor it reviled the most beautiful garden Fuu had ever laid eyes upon.

There were roes and roes of differently colored flowers, purples, yellows, whites, blues, even small ones with near black pedals. Where there were not flowers there were pathways made of stone. Each flattened rock delicately placed to make intricate patterns in the dark valley soil. She followed the trail to a large Buda statute carved of pale white stone.

It didn't hit her until after she had walked all through this magnificent artwork that there were towering walls high above her head. This garden, this entire house, had been dug and built several feet below ground. 'No hope of climbing out…' She thought as she stared at one of the walls which kept this particular rectangular shaped garden separated from the other yards.

Stepping back she looked up at the tall mansion like house. It has at least three stories, all of them wide, and tall. The roof was pointy at the edges, just like any Japanese noble house. And though she squinted at the windows and doorways she couldn't see any signs of other life. She could see that the final roof and half of it's third floor stuck out above the hole, which means they could be spotted from a close-range view.

"Well Fuu, you've either been captured by a rich hermit, or you're still dreaming…" She said to herself as she tore her eyes from the towering building. Turning instead to a bush of flowers, their thick stems wove round and through a wooden fence, clinging to it.

'Wow, those smell good.' She thought as she reached forward to touch one. Her hand got halfway before a sharp prink of pain caught her further up on her arm. "Ow…" There were thorns on these bushes, a hidden danger within beauty.

"I guess that rules out the sleep theory…' She thought, turning her back on the beautiful red flowers. Fuu kept walking around and around in the ten meter by five meter rectangular garden. All the while racking her brain for any clue as to how she gotten there.

The last thing she remembered was running through bushes and trees, then here she was. For a while it had even been fuzzy to her as to why she had been out in the middle of a forest anyway. Then she remembered. 'Oh yeah….Eseme wanted to take us on a picnic….something about a grave…'

"Ah, I see you are awake. That is most excellent."

She screamed, hearing a voice behind her. She turned around as quickly as she could, determined to keep a brave look on her face. But when she saw whom it was she gasped and took a step back. 'Guess that rules out option one.' She thought, her knees starting to shake just a little bit.

Fuu sat at the end of a very long table, the dark wood was shiny, obviously freshly polished. Before her was an extremely inviting meal, though she dared not touch it. At the other end of the table sat the notorious tyrant Rukono.

There were no others in the room, no servants, no guards, and also no weapons. At least, none that she could see.

"Fuu, that is your name isn't it?" Rukono asked with a smile. This time he was not wearing a mask, and she saw that he really was no older then Jin. He also wasn't wearing the tight fitted black outfit, but instead a deep blue kimono with no pattern.

She glared at him, if she had to be a hostage then she would be a silent one.

"Come now, why don't you eat something? I'm sure you must be hungry." Despite his soothing words and kind tone Fuu turned her head to the side, sending him an obvious 'no'.

To her distress Rukono only laughed. "Don't worry it's not poisoned. I don't poison guests." He said as he reached for a dumpling. When he finished speaking he popped it into his mouth.

His words snapped her, she whipped around and glared as she yelled at him. "Guest? Guest! What kind of guest is a kidnapped one!"

Rukono raised an eyebrow at her, keeping that smooth, yet creepy, smile on his face. "Kidnapped? Why, don't you remember? You must have run into a branch. One of my men found you laying facedown at the far edge of our valley."

This calmed Fuu a bit… "Well…I guess that makes sense…" 'My head _was _hurting a little just a while ago…'…but not enough. She remembered all the bad things Eseme had told her about Rukono and Blackbirds, about the terrible things they had done. "But that doesn't change the fact that you're a bad man. Eseme told me all about how you've suppressed this village. Taking their crops, stealing their money and harassing innocent people because they disagree with your views."

"She did, did she?" "Yeah! And on top of that, this isn't even your town, Kimo Ietaro is the rightful Lord."

Rukono sighed, obviously he wasn't going to get anywhere by making up lies for her. "Very well Fuu. I'll be strait with you, since you are so determined to be strait with me."

He stood up and walked over to her, looking at her with an intimidating glint in his eyes as he sat down before her. "We both know that your Mugen is the cause of my brothers demise. And like any good brother should I'm most intent on getting revenge for his poor dead soul."

Here he pulled a small revolver from inside his kimono, and played with it in his right hand. Aiming it lazily towards the ceiling. "You see, my brother was very much the old fashion type. Never liked firearms very much." Rukono turned his head back to Fuu, saw the frightened look on her face as she stared at the revolver and smiled.

"Fear not, I wouldn't waist a bullet on my precious bait." 'Bait?' As if he had read her mind, he continued; "Why yes, it's brilliant you see. Mugen will come to rescue his beloved woman and find himself trapped and then very soon after, dead."

Now it was Fuu's turn to smile, though on in the inside she was close to tears. "Ha! Well Mr. I've got everything worked out, guess what? You're silly little plan won't work because Mugen doesn't love me. After a couple of days of casually searching for me he'll give up and take off. He's only a body guard, and a second rate bodyguard at that."

'Only a bodyguard?' It hurt to say it, but what he had said to her had proved to her that he had no feelings for her at all. For a while she had tried to pass it off as misused jealousy, but it was clear to her now.

"Oh ho? Is that so…Well, we'll see." Rukono said as he stood, and walked towards the door. Just as he left the room he snapped his fingers and two guards came through hidden doorways. "I only ask that you remember that you are a guest in my home, and guests shall be treated accordingly."

At first Fuu was frightened, but then she saw that they weren't interested in her. They were putting the food from the table on trays. Once the trays were full they took them to the room she had woken up in. She watched them in curiosity, not sure what to think as she followed them.

Once they had placed the oak trays on the floor next to the futon they exited through another hidden doorway. Fuu waited a second before running to the spot she had seen them walk through, and she pushed on it. She heaved against the slice of wood, but no matter how hard she pushed it wouldn't budge. Finally she gave up, sliding down the smooth wall in defeat.

'Oh well…What would I have done if I had gotten it open anyway?'

She stood up again and went to lay on her side upon the heavily cushioned black futon. As Fuu thought more about what had happened she hurt that much more inside. She replayed it all in her head, from rolling down the hill, to slapping Mugen, to yelling at him.

Large tears formed at the corners of her eyes. 'I told him I-I hated him…didn't I…? Silently the tears rolled down her nose, and onto the blankets.

"I didn't mean it." She choked out a moment later, some of the letters pronounced incorrectly due to an interfering hiccup. "I didn't mean it." She sobbed again, repeating herself.

"I want to see him…" She whispered after a few minutes of silent tears. 'I want be safe in his arms again…' Wrapping her arms around her shoulders she emphasized this wish. Catching fistfuls of her green kimono, she hung on tight and tried hard to think what it felt like, falling asleep with him.

The alcohol had prevented her from realizing all the details, but she definitely remembered how warm he felt. That warmth was a great comfort to her, as once again she found herself cold and wet.

There was something about the rhythm of his breath that made her fluttery inside. Fuu wasn't sure what kind of feeling those flutters represented. At that time she hadn't paid it much attention, but now she would have traded anything to have that feeling back.

It hit her then, there in that alien bed, tears shining on her cheeks. Somewhere, either in the past two weeks, or maybe in all the time she had known him, somehow she had fallen for the rouge samurai Mugen.

It had been a long night for Mugen.

After giving up his search he spent an hour getting back to Eseme's house. With the sun gone and the moon waning overhead all he had was the black silhouette of the mountain to point him in the right direction. He knew Eseme's was the first house on the strip of town, he also knew that half the town faced away from the mountain. All he had to do was find the base of it, then keep walking sideways until he bumped into a house.

As he walked through the door an anxious Eseme greeted him, but when she saw that he was alone all hope visibly faded from her aged blue eyes.

"You didn't…" "No."

Mugen didn't want to see another woman cry that day, so to be on the safe side he left for his room. Not caring how hard he hit the damn futon he let himself fall backwards onto a borrowed bed.

After a couple minutes of laying face up in the dark he turned over, burring his head in the European pillow. 'Damn fucking fluffy pillow…' It look him a few seconds before he realized that the damn fucking fluffy pillow was moving.

He lifted his head, and saw none other than the notorious Momo. Mugen waited to see what the squirrel would do, pounce on his face, bit him, chatter at him, anything was possible. But Momo did none of these things, instead he made a small, near helpless little squeak of a noise and curled up on Mugen's pillow again.

"Why the hell are you on my pillow? Go lie on her pillow, you're _her_ pet!" Momo didn't answer, but snuggled his head further between the feathery cushion.

Annoyed, Mugen lifted the pillow by it's side, dumping the squirrel mercilessly from it. 'Don't know what the hells gotten into that da-" As he dove his nose on a uncontaminated spot-a corner Momo hadn't been on-and took a deep breath he realized why the squirrel had done it.

Mugen had always prided himself in his sense of spell, how well he could pick out scents from other scents. This one was definitely Fuu's. He took another whiff to be sure, yes, that was the soap she'd been using while they were here. What was she doing on his bed?

It didn't matter. Another part of his said. She was missing, and he was to blame. There was a good chance he'd never see her again if she had been kidnapped. "Heh. That happens to her a lot don't it…" He said aloud.

Momo was a smart squirrel, he knew that Fuu was missing. She hadn't come back with sunflower-lady and gonna-kill-me-bastard, though he knew she had left with them. He wanted his girl back. Who was gonna feed him?

He let out another squeak and leapt onto Mugen's head, turned around once or twice, then lay down in a tight bun. Gonna-kill-me-bastard wanted Fuu back too, he could tell. For that, he respected him, for now.

Mugen let Momo stay on his head. Like Fuu, Momo was damn stubborn, to get that fuzz ass to leave him alone would take more energy then he was interested in spending.

He closed his eyes and waited for sleep to come, but sleep never came. Mugen spent the rest of the night shifting positions, pulling the thick woolen blanket over himself, only to pushing it off again.

No matter what he did his thoughts just wouldn't subside. Remembering that first night, almost two weeks ago, when the three of them had stayed up all night because of the wolves. Though he hadn't heard any howling since then his mind was torturing him with thought of what would happen to her if those wolves lived in the valley, or if they traveled down into it.

That night she had depended on him, had he come a second latter she would have been bitten. If that hadn't killed her then surely she would have been injured. Now, because he had let his temper get the best of him she was probably in trouble again. This time, however, he was lying in a borrowed bed, instead of being present, and ready to save her.

A little before dawn showed it's face to the world Mugen slipped into an uneasy slumber. This unconsciousness was only temporary however, for not an hour after did he wake again.

He growled at the sun as it shone cheerfully in the early morning sky, not bothering to lift his head from the pillow to face his enemy.

His head hurt from the lack of sleep, and after a while of lying with his face smoldered he sat up, shaking Momo from his hair in the process. The squirrel squeaked, not expecting to be thrown from his comfortable bed.

Reluctantly he pulled himself out into the chilly morning air. His cloths were wrinkled, as he had slept in them instead of taking them off like he usually did.

Mugen walked through the long hallway to Eseme's backyard, he kept his eyes from wandering in the direction of Fuu's empty bedroom. As he stepped out onto the patio he noticed he wasn't the only early riser that day. Eseme was sitting on the edge of the shallow, stage like structure, her thin legs hung over the sides. She was sipping at something from a small cup, beside her was a blue tea-pot.

"Drinkin' away your problems old hag?" He asked gruffly as he took a seat next to her.

"I do not drink to my problems." "Then what's with the pot?" "It's tea potty-mouth." She answered, her voice held none of the cheerful melody it usually possessed, and the lines under her eyes told that she hadn't gotten much sleep either.

For a while the two sat in a silence which seemed to consume the morning and prevent it's sunny glory. Eseme sat slowly sipping tea from a white sake cup, while Mugen sat glaring at the various things in her backyard.

Finally Eseme let a small sigh escape her lips, followed by words Mugen had not expected. "She ish not dead you know."

Mugen lifted his head in a whip-like fashion, his eyes bulging an un-noticeable amount. "What makes you say that?"

Eseme's eyes grew sadder. "Peoples do not get lost in dis valley. Rukono has been running this town for five years, he's minions, de are over dis valley twenty seven. Peoples do not get lost, dey get kidnapped by him. He does not want anyone leaving or entering wit out his consent. Fuu is not back, she is wit him."

Mugen's first reaction to Eseme's words was to stare at her, his mouth gapping open slightly. Then, as the words slowly sank into his brain, he felt a terrible pain in the pit of his stomach. His hands literally shook with want to kill the bastard who went by the name of Rukono. To draw his blade and slice his enemy into hundreds of painful pieces. To make him hurt, just as he was hurting then.

"Well how do you find this shit hole's place?" Eseme just shook her head. "It ish difficult, many have tried, but all have come back dead. Some been drafted as forced workers, depending on how much of a fight dey put up. If you search all day un night you might not find it, but you are special Mugen boy. You killed Iro Rukono, no one else in dis village could have. De Rukono brothers ordered de confiscation of all swords un fighting daggers. No one could have killed such a skilled warrior wit a pitchfork."

Mugen wasn't sure what was wrong with him, there were so many emotions swirling inside his head that he couldn't get them strait. As he stood up, and swung his sword onto his back Eseme said something else which caused him even more turmoil inside. "You're wondering what dos feelings are?" "Eh?" Mugen pretended he didn't know what the hell she was talking about.

The old woman simply stared up at him, a serious yet kindly look on her face. "You are being worried for Fuu. Don't fear, dis won't kill you." Then she turned her eyes from him, as if the hot water at the bottom of her cup was more interesting.

'Crazy old hag…' Mugen thought as he ran head long into the strip of forest which hid two thirds of the valley in greenery. A part of him wanted to yell out to those oncoming trees that they'd better get the fucking hell out of his way, 'cuz they weren't gonna stop him from finding her. While another part just wanted to go back to sleep, to abandon her on her own.

This conflict inside him pounded away more at his body then the headache accumulated from sleep deprivation, and he wanted more then anything for both of the bastards in his head to shut the fuck up. Whether he wanted to or not finding Fuu was something he had to do, for himself, and for her.

Oye, short chap. This time, but I promise to make a longer one next time


	13. Rukono the schemer, Mugen watches

Oooomg thank u soooo much for 100+ reviews! tearily glomps her readers

Fuu heard the light pitter-patter of someone walking barefoot upon the polished oak flooring. She paid it no mind, as she was content on ignoring everyone who came to see her. Everyone who wasn't there to rescue her.

The person walked closer, but Fuu couldn't see who it was, as she was facing the garden. She had no idea if it was a woman or a man. '…sigh…What does it matter anyway?'

Her realizations of her feelings for Mugen had left her in a state of depression. Which confused her. Weren't discoveries of love supposed to be joyous things? Then again, could she really say she loved him? Maybe it was just a crush, an accumulation of light feelings, not extreme feelings.

"Excuse me, but I have orders to take you to bathe." Came a soft feminine voice from behind. While she spoke Fuu felt the same someone reach out and touch her arm. She didn't do anything, pretending she hadn't felt it. 'I wonder how long it's gonna take for this girl to get the hint.' Fuu thought--almost bitterly--as she continued to ignore the girl.

"Miss, are you awake?" Fuu kept her eyes closed, as far as she was concerned no one in this hellhole of a house was worth her attention just then.

After a while the girl removing her hand from Fuu's kimono, but she didn't leave. Fuu would have heard the sound of her feet pitter-pattering their way back out.

Instead the stranger sat down, her knees folded in, and waited. Fuu waited too, for another half an hour while she listened carefully for the sound of leaving footsteps. But the woman never left. She just stayed, sitting.

Now Fuu was curious, and she asked, in purposely-hollow voice; "Why so determined?"

It took the girl a while to think of an answer, but eventually she spoke. "Because my Lord commanded it." Fuu lifted her head and sat up. She could see the sadness hidden behind the girl's amber eyes, and felt pity for her.

Without really thinking about it Fuu stood up, and waited again. This time for the girl to rise as well, and take her to the bathing room.

Without a word the girl stood, and--assuming that Fuu would follow--walked through another seemingly invisible door. This one required a key.

They walked down the short hallway until they came to what Fuu guessed to be the back of the house. Fuu's 'escort' opened the wide door before them, reveling a small bathhouse.

In the middle of the room was a tub, with steaming water already drawn. Heated by a stone box, open only on side trapped the fire which burned beneath the wooden tub.

Against one of the stone inlayed walls was a smooth wooden bench. Whether it was there for sitting or for placing discarded articles of clothing upon Fuu wasn't sure.

Next to the bathing tub, in a much smaller tub, sat an assortment of soaps. Some were in bottles, some were in cakes, but all looked as though they had been used at least once before. Like the pathways in the garden beyond her 'prison' the floor was inlaid with warmly colored stones which shone with cleanness. The whole room, in fact, was very clean, as if it got a proper scrubbing every day.

As Fuu walked closer to the tub she noticed that it's wooden sides was taller then her waist. To solve this problem, large, flat stones had been stacked and placed with thick clay to serve as steps. 'Smart thinking…'

While Fuu looked around the girl closed the door behind them, keeping her eyes fixed on the wall. "You do not have to worry about peeping-toms. Lord Rukono has made sure that all his men are stationed somewhere far from the bathing rooms."

"You may bathe your own self if you wish." She quickly added, her tone was almost apologetic.

Fuu wondered if this girl had to bath the soldiers sometimes, and felt a more pity for her. Even though she had told her not to be wary of watchers, Fuu had to look around at the room once or twice before removing her kimono.

As the soft green material hit the floor, leaving Fuu standing in her under binds, she remembered the last time she stripped in an un-private situation.

It seemed so long ago, that day she had caught a fish all on her own. He had found her, and without her asking or even gesturing for him to do so gave her his red shirt as an exchange of clothing, as hers were wet. Thinking about that now made her heart beat faster, and a faint blush came to her checks.

The naturally chilly air of the valley made her shiver, and she brought herself out of her thoughts to concentrate on getting in and out of a stranger's bath as quickly as possible.

Slowly, almost cautiously she pulled her bottom wraps down her legs. Exposing her butt and pelvis. Lastly her chest wraps came free. Embarrassed, Fuu covered herself, cupping as much of her breasts with her hands as she could.

She climbed up the steps and eased herself into the hot water. The sensation of the warm liquid on her skin was wonderful, and it was almost a comfort to her.

"Here." Still keeping her eyes directed towards something other than Fuu's nakedness, the girl handed Fuu one of the cakes of green soap from the soap tub.

Fuu took it, and stared at it for a second. It seemed strange, soaping up in the tub, but it was much more private than attempting it outside in the open. 'When life gives you leaves make tea, I guess…'

She rubbed the slippery rectangle between her hands, and after accumulating a fair amount of white suds ran her hands over her un submerged body parts.

"So, what's your name?" Fuu asked as she finished her bodily cleansing, and exchanging the bar for a vial of hair soap.

At first the girl's face held a look which spoke of astonishment, as if she was rarely asked questions. Her checks flushed, revealing an inner shyness Fuu had not cared to notice. "My name is Neta."

Neta was a girl who appeared no older than nineteen, while in truth she was only a year older than Fuu. Her black hair was collected in a loose ponytail, held together with a black ribbon. She was thin, but Fuu had to envy her the noticeably larger breast size. She was taller than Fuu too, though only by an inch or two.

Fuu ran her fingers through her brown hair, spreading the soap through her tangled locks. "What is yours?" Neta asked, standing with a bottle of conditioning soap clutched between her hands like it was some great treasure she was assigned to watch over.

"It's Fuu." She replied, before submerging her head under water to rinse off the soap.

After accidentally splashing an armful of water out Fuu was finished with her bath, and once she had dried off Neta handed her a fresh kimono. This one was a pail blue, with an inlaid pattern of sunflowers sewn with a pink thread. It was beautiful, and Fuu couldn't help but stare at it.

At first she was tempted to take it, but then realized that that would be submitting to the enemy. She turned her head away, and reached down for her own. Neta stopped her, gently grasping Fuu's upper arm in her hand. "I am sorry, but my Lord wishes that you should wear this. He says that your cloths need to be cleaned."

It was true, the green kimono had seen fresher days. In the tumble with Mugen it had gotten dirty, and when she fell in the forest later it got dirtier. In a sigh of defeat Fuu accepted the dress, and after placing her private binds she let the material fall over her damp shoulders.

"Why do you give this creep so much respect Neta?" Fuu asked as she sat, patiently allowing Neta to comb through her wet hair. Fuu felt Neta's hand cease mid-stroke, and she wondered what the girl was thinking.

Neta smiled to herself, fighting back the tears which welled deep in the corners of her amber eyes. "I do not know…I guess it's because I love him."

Fuu remained facing forward, though a part of her wanted to look back and see the expression on Neta's face. The expression of a person in love. Did she have that same expression? Was it the same for all people?

Before Fuu could think of something to say to her words Neta spoke again. "He…he didn't always do such bad things, Mechi. Iro as well, neither of them were criminals until…" Without indenting on it the tears leaked out of her eyes and rolled down her checks. Quickly she lifted a comb filled hand to wipe them away, abandoning her interrupted sentence .

"I'm sorry." Fuu felt as though she had to say it, there was something she could do about it, it was just what she felt.

"You don't have to be." Neta replied. "I know you do not like it here, and I know you do not like me. Why would you? I'm just the servant of your captor."

"True, but you are also the only girl I've seen all day. And you seem really nice. How can I hold a grudge against someone just because they have to follow orders from a cree-eh…from an employer?"

Neta smiled widely, finding great comfort in the words of this stranger. She continued to brush through Fuu's wet locks, which latter she would fix into a hair-do fit for the kimono she was wearing.

"You know Fuu, you are the first girl I have seen in over a year."

Fuu's eyes widened dramatically, and she could have whipped her head around to stare at Neta in disbelief, only she didn't want to mess up her handy-work. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. Lord Rukono, the elder; Iro, he wished that no women would be taken back to this place. That all 'doings' should be done outside, to keep it's location safe."

"How'd you end up working for them? Did you get 'napped too?"

Neta chuckled. "No, no. I knew Iro and Mechi long before they…got into this business. As their childhood friend I just did what I always did, tagged along."

Fuu stared off at the garden, watching a butterfly twitter from flower to flower in search of sweat nectar. "Doesn't it bother you? Not seeing your mom?"

"Actually, I haven't seen my mom since I was eight, she and my father were killed in a raid by some sea pirates." Fuu did turn around this time, the bun Neta had been working on unfolded. "Oh my god…Neta I'm so sorry…I just keep asking all these depressing questions, and-gah!" Fuu buried her head in her hands with embarrassment, her checks turning red.

Neta smiled, trying hard to hide her laughter. As though someone had told her it was a crime punishable by death. "It is really quite alright Fuu, I do not mind. I am just so glad to have someone to speak with again."

Fuu lifted her head, her un-orderly hair hid most of her face. "Ok." She settled back into her place, smoothing her hair down again as she waited for Neta to pick up where she left off.

Neta took a handful of Fuu's hair, and started to brush it again. "The same thing happened to Iro and Mechi's parents…It's why they do this. They were furious with Kimo's father for the lack of security his leadership produced."

"That's too bad…I can kinda see why they might be ticked off." Fuu thought for a moment, then asked; "Does this town even have an orphanage? It seems a bit too small for that."

"It doesn't, the three of us were raised by the town doctors." Fuu's eyes widened. "You mean Eseme?" Neta blinked in surprise. "Yes, how do you know her?" "Mugen and I have been staying with her for the past week or so. He got hurt on the way here and we didn't really have anyway to pay her, so I've been-" "Working at the shop? Yeah, she does that." Neta smiled, having no idea the memories she was brining up inside Fuu.

"Is Mugen your husband?" Neta asked, placing Fuu's hair back into it's decided bun style. She turned her head to look at her handy-work from another angle, and--being satisfied--took a seat in front of Fuu.

At Neta's question Fuu blushed deeply. She put her hands upon her cheeks and could feel the heat radiating from them. "N-no, of course not, he is just my…my body guard."

This was the second time she had described Mugen as "just my body guard", and it hurt this time around as well.

Neta gave Fuu a sly look, like a prying older sister and said. "That's an awfully red color on your cheeks for talking about 'just a body guard' Fuu."

This made the poor girl's cheeks redden even more deeply. "Y-yes but I- you don't know- he's just a- I mean…" Fuu couldn't get any of her sentences to run strait, and this made her annoyed with herself.

Neta just laughed. "Don't worry about it." She said, smiling.

The next few hours they spent doing rather girlie things, Fuu fixed up Neta's hair, they talked, Neta showed Fuu how to make head bands of flowers…ect. Neta couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so much, and Fuu couldn't remember the last time she had had so much fun.

Later that night, they were lying in futons positioned across from each other. The moon shining brightly overhead, and not a cloud in the sky.

They had both been silent for nearly a minute, the first time that day, when Neta spoke up. "You know, sometimes when I'm lying in bed at night, waiting for sleep, I pretend that I'm off on some dangerous adventure with Mechi."

Fuu lifted her head from under the covers to stare over at Neta. 'She looks sad again…Neta must get sad when she thinks about Rukono.' Fuu was still having a hard time referring to him as Mechi. The name sounded too light, too childish to belong to the tyrant she saw.

"Really? Is it fun?" Fuu asked curiously. Neta giggled, a blush creeping up on her cheeks. "Yes, it is how I have survived these long years. You should try it Fuu."

Fuu buried her face back down in the blankets. What dangerous adventures could she fantasizes about? Her life was enough of a dangerous adventure already.

"Um…Neta do you--oh." Fuu halted in her question when she saw that Neta had fallen asleep. She thought about lying back down to sleep again, but then got an impulse to go outside.

And what had Mugen been doing this whole day? Why, braving the harsh conditions of the dreadful forest of course.

His hair was wind whipped, blown into an unusual messiness even for him. His arms and legs adorned various scraps and scratches from constant contact with bushes and low-lying branches. Eseme had told him it would be nearly impossible, but he had done it. The search had taken him most of the day, but he had found Rukono's secret "lair."

Mugen's original plan had been to storm the place, kill has many as possible and or necessary, and then run. But as he was crouching in the bushes, waiting in ambush before jumping down into the garden, he saw her. He saw Fuu, playing around with some girl, and she looked…happy.

'What the hell?' He had expected to have to storm through all the rooms looking for her, to find her chained helplessly to some wall. But then here she was, making hats out of flowers.

Mugen stayed there for almost two hours, hidden deep in the surrounding bushes, watching the two girls. Many things were racing through his mind, feelings of happiness and pain mingled together to create a ridiculous headache. He had been so relieved to see that she was alright, but she looked more at home then she looked the part of a captive.

She was even wearing a new kimono, much fancier then the last one he had seen her in. Her hair was different too. Mugen didn't hear much of their conversations, mostly he blocked it out, not wanting to deal with "women talk."

What he did catch wind of had something to do with a Mechi, herbal bath soups, Eseme, and food. Nothing about him.

This made him wonder, what would happen if he just jumped down in there right now? Would a flood of guards poor out from somewhere inside the hidden house? Would Fuu need him then? Would she want to go back with him?

He decided to wait till night, when the other girl had left or was asleep. Then maybe he could talk to her.

The girls had been silent for almost five minutes and just when he was sure it was safe to take the leap Fuu walked out of the open sliding doors. His heard beat just a little faster, and it was like he had been paralyzed, unable now to move.

Fuu had been thinking about the whole fantasizing thing, and her mind kept popping up with 'what ifs.'

There were many things on their journey which could have gone differently, things which could have been done differently, said differently.

She stood in place, silence hung over the two like a blanket. Suddenly her head snapped to the right. Mugen looked in the direction, searching for any on comers, but there were none.

'What the hell is she doin' now?' One of his eye brows raised in curiosity as he leaned further over the drop to watch.

Fuu took a step back, one hand clutching tightly at the edge of her borrowed kimono. And her eyes filled with an acted fear. Another step, another, then she paused, and her balance faltered. Like she had come to the edge of some treacherous cliff. She peered over her shoulder, then back again at her attackers. All seemed hopeless. She cringed. Her eyes closed, not wanting to witness her own demise.

A few moments passed, nothing happened. Then, her eyes re-opened and lit up with hope and happiness. The hero had arrived, just in time--as hero's usually do.

Silently she cheered on this imaginary savior while he battled it out against the ferocious villain. Occasionally she would look worried, as if her hero was in danger. But that would pass quickly, and he was on top once more.

After a few more seconds of battle it was over, the villain was vanquished, and the main characters could share a tender victory embrace.

As Mugen starred on in confusion as his brain kept thinking, asking questions. Questions like, who was the hero character? Who was the villain? Where any of them played by him? If so, was he the protector, or the one she was being protected from?

After a few seconds of standing in her imagination's arms Fuu fell over onto her back. The soft tuffs of grass breaking her fall. She laughed at her own childishness. "Neta was right, fantasies are fun." She said in between giggles.

That laugh, that melodically sickening laugh. Was it possible for one sound to produce too completely opposite effects?

'Damn it Fuu…' Mugen thought as a painful hurt overtook his heart and he flew from the scene, back to Eseme's house. He wanted her to need him, he wanted her to be afraid, and for him to be her comfort. But more than that he wanted her to be _happy_.

Even if happy meant going without him? Asked the voice. "Fuck you." Mugen growled.

"Ah, Mugen boy. Did you have any luck?" Eseme asked, trying her best to sound cheerful. Mugen had walking on her setting the table for a late dinner.

"If that bitch wants to stay with some rich-ass here in smelly-vile then she can be my freakin' guest!" Mugen yelled at her as he stomped his way to his room.

"What?" Eseme followed him, not quite understanding the situation. "Mugen what happened? You saw Fuu?"

"Like hell I did. 'An believe me, she's all nice 'an cozy over there with your Rufofo bastard or whatever the fucking hell his name is."

"I'm sure you mistook what it is you saw. Tell me what happened."

"Can it old hag!"

Mugen was furious, furious with Fuu for betraying him, furious with himself for caring, furious with Eseme for prying. In a childlike pout he threw himself onto bed and started sharpening his sword. A flurry of obscenities running through his head.

"What do you mean if she wants to stay? Did she tell you dat?"

Mugen turned his head away. "No." He answered roughly, his voice held an almost poisonous quality to it.

"Den what makes you think this way?" Eseme asked softly as she took a seat next to him. The old woman wasn't sure what as going through Mugen's head at the moment, but she wanted to help him sort it out.

For a while Mugen just starred at the dancing flame of the candle which lit the room warmly. His hand ceased it's rhythmic motion of back and forth, back and forth. The stone he used remained halfway down the sword, like a hovering anxiety.

He thought back to how fancy that house had look, three stories, a huge garden, obviously filled with servants. There was nothing he could do that could ever amount to that. Whoever this Rukono guy was he was rich, and obviously powerful. Maybe even a better fighter than himself. She would have a friend, that girl; Neta, she would have Eseme too. And she'd be well protected…safe.

'She'll be safe…'

Eseme saw Mugen's usually well shielded eyes fill up with sadness. "'Cuz she was laughin' an' jumping around like some kinda love-struck idiot. Like she was really happy."

"I see. Well Mugen boyo…" She said as she stood up and stretched her old bones. "I tink you'll learn soon enough dat when you really love somebody you put deir happiness first."

Mugen looked up at her with wide eyes, almost horror struck eyes. "What the hell?"

.;;;; twee-hee! This author is evil.

Will Mugen go back for Fuu? Can he except that fact that she choose him over wealth? Will he ever realize just how much of an IDIOT he is?

whisper whisper could u spot a hint for the ending? whisper whisper


	14. Fuu's disapointemnt, Mugen's realization

Ok peoples, I DARE YOU fine ONE misspelled word in this chapture! Keep in mind, Eseme's sentences are purposefully misspelled. 

Oo0oO

"I see. Well Mugen boyo…" She said as she stood up and stretched her old bones. "I tink you'll learn soon enough dat when you really love somebody you put deir happiness first."

Mugen looked up at her with wide, almost horror struck eyes. His hair stood on it's ends, now more unruly then ever. "What the hell?"

Eseme slipped him a sly smile and left him alone in the room with his thoughts. "Chir chir?" Momo jumped onto the elderly woman's shoulder and stuck his nose in her ear. She laughed, and gave him a pat on the head.

She knew there wasn't anything to worry about. Mugen would realize soon that Fuu couldn't be happy without him, and then he'd be determined once again to run off to bring her back. It was a fool proof plan.

"What the hell…" He repeated, his voice quiet and almost quivery. He loved her? HE loved HER? It didn't seem logical, this was Fuu after all. The bitch who was dragging him along on a pointless quest. The bitch who complained more than she was useful. The bitch who ate way too much for her own good.

'The bitch who makes you happy.'

"What the hell do you know you stupid bastard, you're just a voice in my head!"

'You're the stupid bastard, can't your tiny little brain piece together any kind of explanation or conclusion for ANYTHING that's happened?'

Mugen was about to make a snide rebuttal, when he found that there were no words left in his throat. He tried again, but it was like he had lost the ability of speech.

He started thinking about it, and as the past two weeks replaying in his head he fell into a dizzy state of mind where nothing else in the world mattered.

o0o

Mugen heard two screams in the last minute, one was happy and one was not. But they both belonged to Fuu. He ran in the direction from which they came from, and as he got closer he realized he could hear the sound of rushing water. At last he burst through the trees into the clearing around the river bank he spotted Fuu, shivering and drenched. When he got closer he noticed that a good portion of her legs were showing too.

Though he hated it, the sight of her bare legs, shiny from the sun reflecting off the droplets of water, made his stomach do something weird. "What the hell?" He asked as he got closer, scaring her out of her goose-bump covered skin.

"You can't stay in those damn wet cloths, just take it off." As he said this he shoved his red shirt in her face, turning his head the other way with a 'damned if I care' look. Fuu looked at the shirt, then back up at Mugen. She blinked a few times, then took it from his hands.

Despite her assurance that she wasn't he put a hand on her forehead, his large fingers completely covered of it. "Don't got a fever." He said gruffly, quickly removing his hand. Her cheeks had turned a darker shade of pink, and something told him it wasn't from a cold.

"Damn it, what the hell are you laughing at?" "Y-your hair! It looks like a bush with all those leaves and twigs in it." She stuttered through several different fits of giggles. Mugen's left eyebrow twitched.

"So what if I've got shit in my hair, it's no different then yours!" He shot back angrily, not getting the humor she had seen in this new 'style.'

"Oy, show me you're hand." Slowly, almost timidly she lifted her hands, both were bloody and raw.

He knelt in front of the shallow rock she sat on, his head came up to her chest, and he had no difficulty reaching out to take up one of her hands. Examining the pink skin, the bloody scratches. "You complain about your feet the whole time we walk, but this you don't say a word about?" It made him angry that she hadn't done anything for her hands.

"I didn't want to say anything because I thought your hands were probably scratched up too, and if I made you mad then…" Her explanation had been rushed, the words tumbling over each other as they came out of her mouth, and it was hard for Mugen to catch all of it.

The next sentence was much clearer, and whispered. "Jin's not here to make sure you stay."

After a small silence Mugen made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort. 'You idiot.'

It didn't take him more then a minute to get the first hand wrapped. Mugen put extra strain on the last knot, then let her hand free. At first she didn't move it from where he had left it in the air, but she decided it would be weird just leaving it there. So she placed it back down on her lap near the other. Neither moved for a while.

"Thank you." Mugen didn't reply, instead he lay down close to her feet.

There was a long silence, Mugen wasn't sure if he wanted to let go of her arm or not. So it almost made him jump when he felt it go limp. "Eh?" He turned his head back to look at her again, this time she really was asleep. As her fingers began to slip down to overlap his he tightened his grip.

Then, as if realizing the error in this 'soft' action, let go. Her arm dropped down beside her head, probably not a usual sleeping position, but if he moved it, it would go against his principles

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm climbing a rock you dumb ass!" She yelled back at him, the anger in her voice was betrayed by the smile on her face.

Mugen stared up at Fuu, her feet were at his shoulder level, and he had to lean his head back all the way to see her face. She was smiling. "Yeah? Well you can get your ass off of there by yourself for all I care!"

Why did that smile make him feel so…warm?

"Mugen!" Fuu cried, running out from behind the tree she was hiding behind. "You're hurt!"

He reached with his left hand to pull the arrow from his shoulder, but Fuu stopped him. "Let me do it, you can't pull it out yourself. Its gone completely through." Mugen turned his head towards her, feeling her hand on his. Her face was so close to his, their foreheads almost touched. The slow loss of blood combined with the pain were dimming his sight, but he could still see that her eyes were watering over. "Fine." He said, removing his hand from her grasp.

He pushed himself up, using a nearby tree for support. "Na, it's no big deal, just a puncture." Fuu grabbed onto him as he tried to walk, holding him back. "It is too a big deal! You can't even _move _your arm and if you keep walking without bandaging those wounds you could bled to death!"

Mugen looked down at the hysterical girl who stood clinging to his arm. He really didn't want to put up with this, medical treatment just wasn't his thing. But, the look in her eyes, that strange, pleading look, made him fall prey to her wishes.

'Damn it…' He saw her shoulders were shaking, as if she were cold, or crying. "So, looks like we're gonna be staying here for a while longer." Fuu's head jolted up. Mugen had startled her, and he knew this.

A small smile played on her lips as she answered, "Guess so." Mugen came and stood behind her, their shoulders mere centimeters apart. "I hope you're not planning on getting yourself kidnapped. Thanks to that old hag I won't be much of a body guard for the next two weeks."

Fuu's face fell again, her eyes were sad. "Mugen…" She whispered. "I'm so, so sorry." Mugen was planning to say something about how weird this village smelled, so her words threw him completely off balance.

"You're sorry?" He could see the tears swelling in the corners of her eyes, and felt angry with himself for going outside.

"If I had just done what you asked you wouldn't have gotten hurt. It's all my fault…"

Without really thinking about it he brought his left arm around her shoulders, pulling her forcefully into him. Fuu gave a weak struggle once, then gave up, her small body seemed to melt into his.

"Damn right it's your fault..."

Two more tears trailed down her face, landing on the red material of his shirt. He held her more tightly, like he was worried she would try to get away.

"…but I promised to help you find the smelly guy, and if that means I gotta protect you then that's what I'm gonna do. I _will_ protect you, but if you're gonna make it difficult then you damn well better not cry after."

"But…you could have been-" "Killed?" He finished. "Hell, I could've been killed in any damn battle. Just happened the odds weren't with me."

"Hey, what you crying for now?" Fuu leaning her head back against Mugen's collarbone. "You know, I'm really not sure."

"Cryin' without a reason is a waste of water if ya ask me."

"Oh there's a reason, I just haven't figured it out yet."

Mugen froze, for another reason he couldn't explain he felt like a criminal caught at the scene of the crime.

A moment of uncalled for awkwardness passed between them, then Fuu decided to take charge of the situation. She smiled, and said "I'm glad you're here. Think I can borrow your sword for a sec? I just need to cut the head off this plant."

Mugen took a couple steps closer, now standing in front of her. He raised one of his eyebrows in a skeptical way. "Ya think you can handle it? You're pretty puny." "I am not puny! And of course I can handle it, how hard can it be to use a sword? Besides, I used it before."

Mugen snorted, then, using his left hand, removed the blade--scabbard and all--from it's usual place on his back. He tossed it to Fuu, who wasn't expecting the sudden throw, and had a difficult time getting her hands around it.

Giving him a defiant look, she placed her hand on the hilt of the sword, and the other halfway down the scabbard. With an unsteady jolt she pulled the sword--a little too quickly--from it's protective case. It was heavier then she had remembered, but not too heavy. After swinging the empty scabbard over her shoulder, she turned to the sunflower she had chosen as the first of four for Eseme.

Fuu lifted Mugen's sword high above her head, then brought the full weight of her body down onto the long green stem. The tip of the blade merely bounced off the wax-coated surface of the plant, sending her backwards.

Mugen swore again as he caught her right hand, making sure the violent blade didn't go anywhere it wasn't suppose to. "Damn it, I said you couldn't do it!"

"I just need to swing harder that's all." "No idiot, if you swing harder then you'll bounce back harder." Mugen, pushing her with his body, brought them closer to the pesky plant.

He grasped her left hand more firmly, and forced it around the stem a few inches from the head. "Hold it there, then slice up and to the right." He said, trying not to become annoyed by her slow reactions. "Ok." Fuu grasped the stem tightly between her left fingers, it's waxy and furry outer layer felt weird against them.

He was brought back from his momentary thoughts by a happy squeal of triumph from Fuu. She had successfully removed the head of the sunflower, and had caught it before it hit the ground and scattered it's precious cargo. "Mugen that worked!" She cried happily as she put the head in the basket and turned enthusiastically around to face the man behind her.

A girlish blush came to her cheeks when she saw how close he was. "Whoopee." He said sarcastically, though inside he felt a little happy, a strange feeling that rarely came to him.

Fuu was being almost too apologetic, and Mugen noticed that her hands were trembling terribly. Not able to stand her in this sorry state any longer Mugen reached out and grasped her hand tightly in his. "You're hands are shaking. Ya won't get anything done that way." Fuu blushed, and she apologized again. He gave her captured hand a tighter squeeze, hoping to wake her up from whatever mind-frame she had woken up into. "Don't do that either, it's a waste 'a breath."

Fuu smiled a little, "Alright." When her hand stopped shaking he let it go, now white in places with the shapes of his fingers.

"Damn it don't do that!" He blurted, not sure of anything else to say.

Fuu's wet eyes widened. 'What?' She lifted her head, her cheeks glistening with salty water droplets.

The confused look he read on her face was an annoyance. She should have known what he was talking about. "I'm sorry alright? Just knock it off." With these words he released her previously captive wrists.

Two more great tears came down the sides of her face, and without thinking he reached up and caught them on his thumbs. "I said stop!"

She flinched at his touch and the volume of his voice, or so he thought. He quickly removed his hands from her face, and continuing in a more hushed--but still rough--tone said. "Ain't no reason to waste tears on a guy like me. 'Guess nobody ever told you criminals and murderers don't get friends."

"Where'd you get that?" She asked, running a finger clumsily over the scar on his neck. Her cold fingers sent shivers down his spine, and he felt a physical urge to hold her. Momentarily blocking his mind from thinking about her question.

"Mugen?"

Mugen furrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember, at the same time trying to imagine her as something revolting and gross. 'If I just wait long enough she'll fall asleep…'

But then the dimmed memory came to him. It had been a long time ago, back when he was still living on Ryuukyuu. Story telling wasn't one of his usual customs, then again, falling asleep with women without having sex with them wasn't one of his usual customs either.

0o0

Somewhere in that dismal night he had fallen asleep, and the memories turned to dreams. Dreams of them having a "happily ever after." Of slightly different situations, situations where he wasn't a lowlife criminal. Where actually he had something to offer her. If he was the Lord of some town they wouldn't have anything to worry about, nobody would get in the way of their happiness.

Mugen could feel the warm sunlight on his face as he lay on his side on the futon. His eyes, though they were closed, felt heavy. He peeked one open, and looked down at the space between his arms. When he saw nothing there his frown deepened.

'Damn dreams…'

Groggily he pushed himself into a sitting position. His head hung limply as he tried to wake up. It had been so real. The feel of her skin, the sound of her voice, it was like she had really been there.

"Mugen…" She mumbled sleepily into his chest as they lay on their own futon. His dream self and his dream Fuu were locked in each other's embrace, the room was bright, and everything had a fuzzy appearance. Locks of her brown hair, now down to her waist, dancing over her features and covered her bare shoulders. The Fuu in his dream was much more beautiful then the one in real life, but that was to be expected. Dreams were about perfection, right?

As if he were angry with himself for thinking still about his imagination's passion play he brought his fist down hard on the side of his face. The pain of the collision woke him further, and he went off to find Eseme.

Mugen stormed into the room, nearly kicking down the sliding paper door in his passion-filled outburst. "Oy!" He yelled at Eseme, pointing an accusing finger at her. "Look old hag, just 'cuz I want to keep her safe, and just cuz I let her take care of me, and just cuz I want her to be happy doesn't mean I love her!"

His eyes glowed wild, like a beast in strange territory. "Sure, I like her, I'm physically attracted to her, I care, but I don't have to LOVE her!"

At first Eseme had been startled out of her wits, and she spilled the tea she was just about to put to her lips. The look in his eyes frightened her, and for a moment she wondered what could be going through his head. What had been going through his head all this time.

"See it your way, but you are going to bring her back yes?" Eseme asked as she mopped up the hot liquid from her nice wood floor.

Mugen didn't answer, but instead sat down at the table and tossed a dumpling in his mouth.

"Won't you?"

He sighed. "Yeah, if she wants to."

Eseme had expected an answer like this, based on his words from the night before. Her short grey hair fell into her face, shielding her blue eyes. She didn't want Mugen to give up, she wanted him to realize that there was no way Fuu could ever be happy being Rukono's prisoner.

"You know, however happy you may tink she looked, Fuu is Rukono's prisoner. Fuu is alive un unharmed because he is keeping her fresh for your arrival. And she will stay dat way as long as he still has un interest in your life. " Her eyes drilled into his head like a military General, trying to get it through the skulls of their new recruits that they might die that day. "If you don't come for her he will kill her, or sell her. You tink you are making Fuu happy but in truth you kill her."

Eseme's words hit him like a large tree, one that had fallen over and crushed a tiny ant. "What the hell! How come you didn't say any of this shit yesterday!" He screamed, his sword already inching from it's scabbard.

"Because I knew you would 'ave to realize how important she was to you before you did dis. You are reckless Samurai, Rukono is a disciplined tactician. He will have been planning his revenge since de moment he realized his brother's murderer was you. If you flail your sword about you could get somebody beside yourself killed. Go to him, walk into trap un den spring it before he can. Dat is only way you win."

The old woman's words slowly began to sink into his mind, and he stood there in shock for nearly four minutes before she raised an eyebrow in wonder.

"Ello? Anybody home?"

For one of the first times in his life Mugen knew that everything depended on how he was going to react, on how he played the pieces. He would have to be the one pulling all the big strings. He was important.

His hands were actually shacking.

"So now what?" He half whispered as he fell hard on his ass down on the wooden flooring.

"Now you wait." Eseme said, looking down at him over the slightly crooked rim of her nose. "…un maybe help 'ol woman in kitchen with sunflowers…" She added slyly, fully intent on finishing those sunflower medicines today.

After a few more seconds of thinking Mugen pushed himself back up and followed.

O0oO0o

The next morning Fuu woke with a wide smiled on her face. Neta and her futon were absent, but she guessed that her friend had work to do around the house.

Today was the day. This feeling of absolute happiness, she just knew it was a sign that Mugen was coming for her. Neta had told her how the Rukono brothers had searched and searched for the most secluded spot in the valley. This very home was the secluded spot. It was hard to find, first of all, because of the difficulty one would have spotting a waist high roof from far off. Second, because of the guards posted at stations each five meters from the other. Anyone who got close enough to knock on the door got there because Iro or Mechi had wished it.

After changing back into the kimono Neta had given her yesterday Fuu ate some of the food laid out before her on a dark oak tray. 'Well, being the prisoner of a rich-ass isn't so bad…I guess…' She thought while she chewed on a soft, steam-cooked pork dumpling.

"But it doesn't matter, 'cuz Mugen's coming for me today." Fuu proclaimed passionately as she slammed her drink down onto the tray.

"What doesn't matter Fuu?" Neta asked as she slipped in through the hidden doorway. Neta's smiling face faded a little when she heard Fuu talking about being rescued. She knew better than anyone else did that this home was more then escape-proof. And if one could not get out, one could not get in.

Fuu turned to Neta with a face like she had slept with a melon peel in her mouth. "It doesn't matter that the food is awesome, or that the company is good."

Neta kept her smile, but inside she felt awful. Without much more continuation of the conversation she took up the tray of dirty dishes and left.

'I'm just such a terrible person…' She thought with tears in her eyes as she worked at cleaning the large pile of dishes. Mechi had told her to take Fuu's mind off the fact that she was a captive. To have Fuu enjoy herself so that when he brought her to see Mugen the next day she might have something to look sincerely happy about. Fuu had been so great to her, and she was helping her oppressor.

As far back as she could remember she had always followed Mechi, always did what he said, because she loved him. Even when she was just a little girl she loved him.

o0o

"Hey Neta, wanna come fishing?" A young Iro asked cheerfully, dragging behind him a fishing pole much longer than his own height.

Neta, younger than him by a year, looked up from her polishing work. She sat on Eseme's front desk, a little pot in her tiny hands. "But Miss Eseme said I gotta clean these before I play."

"Aw, but Neta you're the only girl we know who can fish good!" Mechi, the older of the three, came in behind his brother. At his entrance Neta's face burned bright red.

Slowly she nodded and put the pot down, then swung her legs over the edge and eased herself down. Whatever he wanted, she always did. Even if she knew better.

o0o

Neta went to check on Fuu around the time when the sun was in the middle of the sky. The girl's eyebrows went up, seeing her sitting there. "Fuu, aren't you bored? Just sitting there?"

She expected that Fuu's hopes would be weak now, that she could maybe try to take her mind off of Mugen's rescue. For she knew well enough there would be no rescue today.

But Fuu just turned around, smiling at Neta with a warm grin, and said: "Oh don't worry, he'll come. I know he will, it might take him a while but he will. He always comes." The confidence in her voice was mind shattering. It made Neta think of her own confidence and belief in Mechi, and she recoiled her thoughts of influencing Fuu's.

Later that night Neta went back to Fuu's room to deliver her dinner, and found the girl still sitting in the same position as she had left her in that afternoon.

"Fuu?" She asked quietly setting down the tray, and kneeling down in front of her. Fuu's eyes were blank, they had no sparkle to them. Void of hope.

Her feat has lost their feeling long ago, as had her legs, and now she could feel a tingling in her knees. Though her heart hurt most of all.

"He…didn't come…" She breathed, her words almost below a whisper. Slowly she turned her head to look at Neta. "He…really didn't come." Then Fuu broke down in tears, clinging to Neta's kimono. "I-I d-don't get it… Why didn't he-he come?" She managed to get out, between coking on her own tears, and gasps for breath.

'Oh poor Fuu…' The older girl looked down at Fuu's shivering body with utmost sympathy. 'Why does the world have to be so cruel to lovers?' She thought as she put a hand over the brown locks of loose hair, small tears swelling in the corners of her own eyes.

Hi, if there r any photographic memory readers who noticed that the flashbacks with Mugen are short and different from their original versions it's cuz I changed them so that you only get Mugen's actions and some mental commentary. After all, if it's him remembering then how would he know what was going through Fuu's head? Lol heck, if he could do that this story'd be over


	15. We meet again

Good day readers, as I sit here, going over the final edits on this chapter, listening to my Muse of Literature and Art: Chaud Kroeger, and havin' a nice thinga strawberry Gatorade, I have this to say: YOU PEOPLE HAVE A POINT DAMN IT! A few days ago I got hooked on a piece of work, but found constant smelling errors and empty wording(places where words like he, she, it, as probably should have been.) and I gotta say, it annoyed the shit outta me. Also, I've acquired a new technique for produced chapters: writing during passing period! Woot! So far it's going great, mostly for the reason that we're reading Romeo an Juliet in AP English, and all through-out the few hundred halls I see couples sucking each other's faces off. So adorable… "insert weird smily face here"

A morning lark chirped somewhere in the forest nearby. It's sweet song reached the ears of our dear captive Fuu as she lay with her heavy head upon the futon. The brown locks which caressed her cheek and hid her face shimmered slightly with the grace of the early sun.

She listened, thinking with an empty mind about nothing, and yet, everything. The 'nothing' referred to how random her thought's topics were. The 'everything' was an exaggeration of how many thoughts she had.

Often, one thought would lead to another or they would re-occur, so that the list when something like this: Mugen, Jin, Eseme, sunflowers, sunflower medicine, Momo, Mugen, her father, Mugen's family, Jin's family, her mom, Mugen…etc.

Fuu looked out the window, as her doors had been closed and locked the night before, and moving only the pupils of her eyes she tried to find that little bird. It was a creature, bound by nothing, dwelling in a world of absolute freedom. 'If I was a bird, I'd fly away.' She sighed, and pushed herself to sit up. "Maybe then I could find the sunflower samurai…" Fuu had slept very little, as sleep had been made impossible by the aching of her heart.

"Wake up girl." Came an unexpected and unwelcome voice from behind. Rukono had come to visit her, the plan's wheels were slowly turning in his head as he did so.

She watched him with cold eyes, not even caring to pull up the her kimono to cover her shoulder. Fuu took not that in the corner of his arm was yet another outfit. Obviously the richest article of women's clothing in the house. For it appeared to be the kimono of a Geisha.

Rukono lay it on the low table, spreading out the beautiful material onto the dark oak. As he did so he spoke. "You have an important job to do today Fuu…"

He paused, glancing at her from the corner of his eye with a malicious sparkle. She didn't acknowledge his sentence, nor did she acknowledge it when Neta entered from the servant's door. "There are a few things you must understand first, however."

Rukono pulled out the gun from his kimono, Fuu glared at it defiantly. "You see this? This is a hand rifle. Only truly effective when you're in a close proximity to your opponent."

Neta felt a familiar pain in her chest as he gave the murderous metal an affectionate stroke.

"But they're useless over long distances…" He returned the gun to it's place in his sleeve. "If your samurai can kill my brother, he won't be defeated by a mere handgun."

Without warning Fuu found herself being stripped and re-dressed by Neta. Rukono continued to talk through this process, keeping his eyes towards the pictures upon the walls, or the flowers in the garden across the hall. It was obvious that he had no intention of seeing her naked. "Have you ever seen a long short rifle in work Fuu? They can hit a mark from ten yards away, dead."

He pulled a thin black ribbon from his other sleeve, and stepped behind the now fully clothed Fuu. "But I wouldn't worry too much. My men won't get the pleasure of killing him so long as you smile." Rukono tied the ribbon carefully around her neck. Like a hunter setting the trap for his kill. Taking a look at the finished produce he gave her a satisfied smile. "Perfect. Now you will catch the eye of every man. Even your own."

Rukono stood up and left the room with another word. 'Perfect…'

Fuu didn't understand, what did she have to do? What did this have to do with Mugen? "Neta…I don't-" "Please come and join me at my Lord's dinner tonight. That is what you must say."

The young girl looked up at her newly found friend with frightened eyes. "Neta…"

'How…how can I just…not do anything?' Neta couldn't bare to look at Fuu any longer, it hurt too much. "Remember it, you must say nothing else. But hand him the piece of paper in your kimono sleeve." Her voice was as hollow as she could make it, and she fought hard to keep it from quivering with guilt. "Do what he says, don't let him kill Mugen." 'Like he has killed himself…'

Then Neta fled from the room, her guilty conscience plagued too much upon her mind. Though it was early morning, and her sessions of tears usually came at night, Neta found herself weeping into the pillow she had wept into the night before.

Fuu kept her eyes on the floor and her head down as she was lead out to the stables. The early morning light was soft, and it flooded the forest with gold illusion. She couldn't really believe, that a group of humans could have dug such a large, perfect square into the ground. The machine lowered slope which allowed people to leave the 'pit' did not impress Fuu either. She had seen far greater things in her travels.

Suddenly, and much to her displeasure she was lifted onto Rukono's horse, and seated directly behind him. She had never ridden a horse before. The saddle poked into her thigh and the leather felt weird on her butt, but it was not so painful as the next step of preparation. Her arms were brought around the villain's waist, her hands bound and hidden under Rukon's extra folds of kimono. 'No...no...no!' Fuu silently objected.

Once this was complete and Fuu had been arranged how they wished Rukono kicked into the sides of his horse. Sending it into a gallop up and out the hole that was his home.

'I can't believe I'm touching him! Ew! This is so gross…' It made her want to gag. Touching this _villain_, this _murderer_. The only murderer she wanted to hold was Mugen, who at least wasn't a villain. 'Gue…that sounds a little weird…'

She was not aware of how long the journey would take, but to make it more enjoyable she tried to picture that it was Mugen's back she was leaning against. That, instead of ridding to their doom, they were on their way to that happily ever after beyond the sky. 'I know it's not possible…but I can still dream, right?'

Was it wrong, even, to simply dream of such a life? The two were so different. Almost complete opposites—with the exception of their common passion for food—and most of the world knew that complete opposites didn't make the best pairs.

'Mugen…you've always protected me because you were my bodyguard. Even if you were kinda bad at it sometimes…I wanna protect you now…'

Fuu knew what would happen if she didn't do exactly what she had been told. Mugen wouldn't be able to dodge bullets. Even with his speed, even if he knew where they were coming from, it just couldn't be done.

Hack, slice, duck, spin, kill. Another worthless tree fell to the rugged samurai's blade. Warm sweat ran down his neck in little trickling rivers. Mugen had left Eseme's early in the morning. Unable to sleep, training was all he could do. Finally, it was that day. The day where he could do something useful instead of sitting around an old house, helping an even older woman make medicine out of flowers.

"Be sure dat you are being un de market as de sun is by de mountain tip." Eseme said, pointing towards the spot. Her pipe lit and clenched between her sturdy teeth. Whenever Eseme wanted to be serious she stuffed a pinch of tobacco into the little wooden stick, bit down on the end, and spoke from the side of her mouth. Mugen's eyes followed where her wrinkled finger lead, memorized the spot, and took off without a word.

He looked now at that spot, and found that the great star was almost in place. Mugen poured the last of the water from the canteen over his head, then slid both shirts over his bare chest.

With his sword on his back, and determination in his eyes Mugen set out for the unknown. It was taunting him, the knowledge that half of the success of his mission depended on how fast he could discover a plan, and match it with his own. Could he do it? Brains weren't his strong point… Usually he won by brute force or skill. This was a whole new level. 'Aw screw this shit. I'm gonna kick that fuckers ass even if I have'ta kick his fucking brain first.'

Upon entering the tiny town he didn't have to search far for the villainous tyrant. Rukono was already at the market. Already drawing in his crowd. Casually Mugen slipped past the civilians until he was just a few farmers away from the center. "…it is expected that you all continued to go about your lives as you would. Winter is not four months away yet so there is no need to being storing supplies…"

'Heh...Looks like I caught the bastard in the middle of a speech or something.' Mugen couldn't see Fuu, there were too many heads in the way, and her small body was easily hidden by Rukono's. He saw Rukono, however, and the sight of his masked face made him sick.

'Damn…What I wouldn't give to rip his fucked up guts out..' It bugged Mugen, this waiting and planning. But there was nothing to be done. He didn't even see the master snipers positioned just meters away. Their long-range guns loaded, waiting with their thumbs quivering anxiously on the triggers. Like giddy schoolboys waiting to be let out for the day, they waited for the moment to kill.

"…and now I'd like to introduce to you our newest member. You could refer to her, not as a Blackbird, but perhaps…a Black Swan." His mock regal voice held a certain sense of pleasure at uttering those words. Pleasure that could be heard by everyone present.

This caught Mugen's attention, and he shoved his way closer as Rukono turned his horse so that everyone might see the "new member".

"Pretty…" "Haven't we seen her before?" "She's not from this village." "My god, look at those treads!" An uprising of hushed conversation floated through the thick crowd. Apparently everyone in the village but Eseme attended these meetings. It was a wonder how they could all fit into that tiny strip of market. Mugen could feel the people behind him push to try and get closer.

His eyes were wide, and his heart was racing at a speed no horse had gone before. She was beautiful, not just pretty, but beautiful. Whether it was the hair, make-up, the gown, or the smile, she was heartbreakingly beautiful.

Mugen saw Fuu, and Fuu saw Mugen, and the acted smile on her face brightened with sincerity. 'Mugen…' After inspecting her closer he found that she wasn't only riding on Rukono's horse, but that she had her arms around his chest. 'Let go of that fucking bastard!' He wanted to yell those words so desperately, but he knew deep down that he couldn't.

Rukono caught Fuu's gaze, and under his birdlike mask a deep, evil grin formed. "Ah! Mugen, what an excellent surprise. We were hoping to see you today." He addressed Mugen like some old friend.

The crowd did not take to this well. "He's one too?" "How despicable.." "'Don't look like a blackbird…" "Wasn't he with the girl the other day?"

Ignoring the whispered comments Rukono made his horse take three steps closer to Mugen, shooing away the farmer in front of him. "My Swan has something for you. Call it…a thanks for your services as her body guard."

Mugen couldn't stop the low growl in his throat as Rukono uttered the words; "My Swan" Turning the horse so that Fuu might face Mugen, he quickly untied her right hand behind his sleeve.

Fuu twisted around, her chest and lap no longer aliened. Her eyes nearly watered over with tears upon seeing his face. The face which had haunted her dreams for the past few nights while she was deprived of the real thing.

Keeping a warm smile she reached into the hollow of her sleeve and pulled out a piece of rice paper. Just like Neta had told her. Fuu bend down as far as Rukono would allow, as he was holding onto her left hand tightly.

Her brown eyes darted over his features hungrily, trying to take all him in at once. Many people know the feeling. When you're away from someone—even if it is only for a short period of time—you begin to build up that person in your mind. Until you think; No, wait a second. Nobody can look that handsome, that beautiful. Mugen wasn't "handsome" just like she wasn't "beautiful" but to her, to her aching heart, he was gorgeous. For love is blind, and though one may love for looks, those who love for mind find their lover a great looker.

Extending her hand down slowly so that he might reach the paper, she recited her line. "Please come and join me at my Lord's dinner tonight."

Mugen, taken aback by the words, didn't reach to take the invitation just yet. 'What the hell…'

Finally he willed his limbs to move, and he took the paper. His hand lingered over her fingers, and the familiar stomach flutters returned. This time he did not curse them, did not try to ignore them. He hadn't felt this good in days. Fuu's hands were soft--just like he remembered--, they felt like one of the kimono's the expensive prostitutes wore. Something a man like him wouldn't be allowed to touch, unless he had the money of course. Unreachable beauty.

A sickening feeling came over his old self when he realized how much he had missed those hands.

'God damn it, she's right here! Why can't I just reach out and pull her down! This bastard 'aint got nothin' on me!'

"Do not be underestimating him. Rukono is un better fighter den you know. Dis is no time for being rash. If you are not careful you get Fuu-girlie killed." Eseme's words rang in his head, and the sparkly felling, like warm sake in his stomach, turned evil. Twisting about his innards in a painful effect. The last thing he wanted to do was get her hurt.

"Whatever." Mugen removed his hand from hers, not daring to spend another second there.

Fuu wanted so badly to pull down further, closer to Mugen and away from Rukono. To grasp his hand and hold on tight. She wanted to cry too, to cry out her heart into his chest like she had a few forgotten nights before. His hands were asrough as she remembered them, and in that familiar roughness she found a great comfort. As if, for the first time in three days, she was safe.

'He's right there!' She tugged on Rukono's hold, trying desperately to reach her Mugen.

This action disturbed Rukono greatly, and he yanked her swiftly onto a strait sitting position once more. Pulling the two further apart he drove his horse back to the center. Facing forward into the thin strip of land in the market where there were no booths or businesses. "I think that covers all issues. You may return to your daily activities now."

He backed the horse into the thick forest under brush, leaving behind an ominous effect upon the poor people of the village. Only Mugen had an expression which spoke not of fear, but of hatred.

With his hackles raised Mugen made his way back to Eseme's house. All the while, in his head, he thought of ways to slice Rukono into pieces. To make him suffer, like he was suffering right now. That image of her, holding _him_, he couldn't get it out of his head. Just the thought of her touching another man was enough to make his blood boil over, like water sent down into hell.

When he arrived the ecstatic old woman pried him like a can of sardines for information and details about the morning's events. Finally, Mugen got so agitated with her that he lashed out like a wild dog pressed into a corner. "ENOUGH!"

Eseme nearly jumped two feet into the air. If she had a mirror to look into she would not have been surprised had her grey hair had turned completely white. Her eyes were wide with surprise, and for one of the first times in her relations with Mugen she felt that he was the superior.

"Don't think that you're the only one who wants her back! You have NO idea what it felt like to see her with him! Touching HIM!"

Mugen emphasized the last two words of his tiny speech with a voice dripping from the malice within it. He clenched his fists so tightly she thought his fingernails would draw blood soon. Mugen tossed her the vile scrap of rice paper. Not wanting to hold onto it anymore, he hadn't bother to read it. Eseme adorned a pair of thick reading glasses, and scowled down at the paper. I took her a good four minutes before she looked back up at Mugen.

Once Rukono and Fuu were a few leagues away from the village Fuu noticed that he had forgotten to re-tie her left hand. The only thing holding her down now was his loose grasp on her wrist.

She thought it over for a few seconds, then, waiting for a clear spot, paused. 'Now!' Yanking her arm free, she flung herself from the horse. "Ah!

Fuu hit the ground hard, but did not linger Seconds after landing she pulled herself up and sprinted backwards to the village. Hoping and praying the his horse wouldn't be able to follow through the forest trees, which were very thick, through which she ran. 'Please, please, please, please, please don-t' BANG!

Fuu tumbled into the brush, she had felt the wind of the bullet pass by her ear and new it was hopeless. Trembling, she lay on the forest floor, the elegant kimono was dusty, but other wise undamaged. As was she.

"Bravo, bravo. Your courage and determination is inspiring." Rukono hid his rifle once more, then dismounted. Swinging himself gracefully from his horse he bent down and lifted her head by her hair. Fuu wince in pain, trembling harder as he licked a stream of blood from a cut on her left temple. "I would not try such foolish things if I were you." His voice, no longer regal, but instead, almost snakelike, frightened her more so than his actions.


	16. Fools of luck

"God damn fucking kimono shit…Formal dinner…When I get my hands…Fucking bastard…" These foul sentence fragments drifted upward through the forest growth as a stranger made their way pass the trees and shrubs. Each word was grumbled and marinated with malice, and spit out with force, like a bad piece of fruit. True, all those things upset him, but his anger was not for them. Indeed, it was for Rukono.

Mugen followed the trail he had marked two days earlier, the thin lines upon the tree's bark were nearly undetectable, though he found himself turned around a few times. Leading him to believe that they had been tampered with at least once. 'Bah!'

Eseme had struggled with him for nearly three hours. Trying to give him a somewhat presentable appearance. First, she scrubbed him down until he smelled only of cedar bark, not at all like sweat or sake as he originally did. Then, another hour was spent in combing out his hair. To which he had many objections, as it was well past the tangle stage. Eventually she gave up any attempts to tame the wild afro-like mane and settled for gathering some of it in a tiny ponytail at the nape of his neck.

Mugen would not let her touch the stubble on his top lip, however. Saying that it would be the only thing left "man" about him after so much preening. The final preparation was to wrestle him into one of Bahck's old kimono's.

"How the hell and I gonna fight in this!" He roared as the old lady made some quick size adjustments to the faded material with a handy pair of sewing needles. It had no legs--like women's robes--and he wasn't a fan of wearing under wraps.

"Wear your shorts under den. If you going to be making such big fuss." Eseme had never seen Mugen fight, though occasionally she had caught a glimpse of him in training. She didn't understand his strange style, or the required rhythm of his moves.

Those dark green robes slowed him down as he trudge through the underbrush, and this unexpected handicap annoyed Mugen greatly. Also, because he was walking instead of running it took him twice as long as it had the other day. The night was quiet, almost too quiet. As if all the usual inhabitants of the forest had gone into hiding. As if they were just as afraid of the dictator in the pit as the villagers. 'Feh…Even the damn trees are quiet.'

Yet another thing which brought him great annoyance was the thought that he was being watched. He couldn't shake the feeling, and that feeling was mocking him. What was he? Just an actor on a stage for jackasses to watch while his life collapsed in misery? It was true, everything that had happened since they had met Rukono, had probably been part of the mans plan. Had probably contributed to them in some way.

'No. Not _everything._' Mugen corrected himself. Rukono didn't plan the moment on the porch, or the one in the forest. That had been all them. It was theirs and no one else's and he'd be damned it let anyone else take the credit. Just because they both screwed up, didn't mean it was suppose to end that way.

Eventually he found himself staring down into that hell of a yard where had watched Fuu just days before. If only he had done it then. If only he hadn't let his emotions get to him, he wouldn't have to go to all this trouble.

The last rays of the setting sun were blocked by the roof of the great house, which stuck out from the ground, and left no light for the flowers. Suffocating them with darkness, as they were the only things which received none of the sun's blessing.

That was how he felt, standing before this new battlefield, like he was being suffocated. Smothered, and tortured with his own emotions. He couldn't remember felling this nervous about anything before. Usually he just went with the flow, occasionally grunting in acknowledgment of things like food, or swinging his sword in reply to anyone who ticked him off.

Anxious, he was anxious too. The paper said he would get five minutes with Fuu before dinner, alone. "To say goodbye…" It explained her intent on staying and marrying Rukono, and Mugen was invited to dine as a thank you for his services as her bodyguard. 'What a load of shit…' The last time he was alone with her he had somehow managed to fuck it up. Telling her things he knew weren't true, but things his jealous mind had lead him to believe.

Apparently he had lingered too long, for Mugen soon found himself cornered on all four sides by men dressed entirely in black. Sinister raven-like masks shielded their faces, leaving his imagination to decide how ugly they were.

Mugen growled, he knew drawing his sword would ruin any progress he had made in maintaining a peaceful appearance. He fumbled in his kimono for the invitation and shoved it before the eyepieces in the mask of the guard to his right. The tall man took a moment to read over the text, then twitched his head to the side. Motioning something to the third guard. This one nodded too. "Follow me." He said in a hoarse voice to Mugen, and took off at a fast paced walk around the sides of the drop off.

After being ushered into the strange castle-like house Mugen had to sit in a shadowy room. "Wait here." The man said before shutting the door, leaving him alone in the barely lit room. 'What the hell…'

After being heaved back onto hell's steed, dragged into the cage of doom and waiting a full day with no one but the bare walls of her room, she was finally doing something. Though Fuu was still vaguely clueless as to what was going on. 'What now?'

When a good half hour of sunlight was left, Rukono came to escorted her down a hallway. He offered no explanation, and his mask-less face was unreadable.

Suddenly he stopped, and turned to face her. A somewhat proud smirk dance on his lips as he asked; "Do you want to see your samurai?"

Throwing danger filled glares at the sinister man, Fuu nodded a cautious yes. Of course she did. All the had thought about for the past three days had been Mugen. Being allowed to see him, allowed to hold him, allowed to love him.

Rukono waved his long hand towards the rice paper door on his right. "He's here, waiting for you." All the pieces of his jigsaw puzzle were slowly coming into place. Using his mental abilities, and skills in planning, timing and strategy, he had produced the very hour upon which Mugen would die.

Fuu felt her heart leap up into her throat, and her stomach twist up into knots. 'Mugen…' Could Rukono be serious? The invitation she had given him…did he really come? Had he come for her at last?

Then, much to her displeasure she felt Rukono's arms snake around her shoulders, pulling her in. "Would you like to know what I'm going to do to him?" He hissed quietly in her ear, making her shiver though she tried to hide her fear of him. The hush of his voice made it impossible for Mugen to hear beyond the wall.

"I'm going to spike his sake with a poison which can't be smelled, seen, or tasted. Keep in mind, if you tell him, I'll shoot him on the spot." He chuckled in an almost insane way. "That's one of the best parts."

Once she felt his arms leave her, she ran towards the blessed door. "And don't try to whisper, I'll hear you. I'll see you. I'm watching." Rukono laughed again.

Fuu's hand lingered on the nook of the door a moment, but then she slid open the barrier and entered, closing it again behind her. As if to seal of all bad things from the outside, which might harm them..

Her eyes scanned the room for a quarter of a second before she found him. There, standing just across the room was the man who had been haunting her mind. His head was up, and he was looking at her, having heard the door as it opened and closed.

For a moment, neither moved, neither breathed. It was like time and space had become irrelevant. The shier joy which came to the two bodies, simply upon seeing the other, was enough to paralyzed them for that moment. The room was filled with silence, as they stared. Taking in their opposite with their eyes.

Finally they snapped back into conscious mind, and Fuu ran at top speed towards him. Throwing herself hard into his chest she let out a soft, yet desperate cry of his name. "Mugen!"

The not so scruffy man didn't move a centimeter as she crashed into him, but stood ready to support her, with arms already moving to grasp her. At the same time he heard his name called he felt her small hands grab fistfuls of the borrowed kimono. There was something in the way she had almost breathed his name, whining a little, that made him crazy. "Oy." Was going to be Mugen's answer, until he felt her trembling. 'Damn it!'

Taking hold of her forcefully he swept her up so that nothing but the tips of her high sandals touched down. With one arm all the way around her back, and the other just under her ass he held her up against his chest. He didn't feel like bending down for her. 'Damn it, stop shaking!'

Fuu was afraid to speak, thinking that perhaps he would disappear. That maybe she was just dreaming again. There were no words to describe how happy she became when she felt his strong arms wrap around her body. 'Please…' True, his grip was so tight that she was un-able to breath easily. Nuzzling her head deeper into his neck, Fuu felt more at ease than she ever remembered being. '..don't go away…' To give her lungs more room, Fuu pulled her arms free from their crushed position, squished between his abdomen and hers. Sliding them instead around his neck to embrace him. '…not yet.'

For a moment Mugen thought she was pushing him away, and he became angry with her for rejecting him. 'Son of a--' Until he felt those same small hands fold around his neck and pull the body close once more. Soothed these feelings of rage like a chunk of ice upon a heated pan. The lion let out a nearly inaudible purr of content.

Fuu took in a large whiff of his scent. Breathing a small sigh of content to answer his own. 'He smells like cedar wood…and…' Curious fingers fumbled with the tiny pony tail which had a good deal of his hair capture. It seemed so cute, a totally un-Mugen like element, that ponytail. She hadn't ever acknowledge Mugen's scent, as it usually was nothing great. But as her eyes fluttered shut with mental and physical fatigue Fuu tried her best to burn it into her memory.

Mugen allowed himself a small smile when he felt her trembling stop. If anything, at least he knew she felt safe with him. Still holding her tightly against him, Mugen realized how calm he had suddenly become too. Running a hand through the ends of her free hair he pressed his stubbly cheek against her forehead. He could feel her lips resting innocently on his neck, and it stirred something inside him, though he knew she had no intention of waking such a beast.

Fuu felt a warm poof of air sail by her ear and smiled. 'He really is here.' Tears of joy nearly pooled in her eyes.

After four of their five precious minutes had been spent Mugen remembered why he was there. Why they had been apart so long.

Regrettably he set her back down on the floor. It gave him a small amount of internal pleasure when he had to bend over, as she was not willing to let him go just yet. "Oy. Ya gotta tell me what that son of a bitch's got up his sleeve." Fuu would probably know at least something. It was his best bet.

Suddenly Mugen felt her grip on his neck loosen, and he was able to stand up strait once more. 'What's up with her…' He thought as her hands slid down to grasp his kimono again, clinging almost.

Her eyebrows furrowed, she had forgotten that their mortal enemy was hiding just behind them. Watching and listening to everything that was going on. A great feeling of violation came over her. Sure it could not have been worse had she been standing there stark naked. "I…I can't…"

Mugen looked at her skeptically, raising his eyebrows. "You cant? You know but ya can't tell me?" Fuu felt his hands leave her back, and her mending heart broke a little. It was like he was rejecting her, disowning, almost.

This confused Mugen. They had just spent the last four minutes locked in a deeper embrace than he had ever in his life even thought about having. Why was she playing these games with him? Why now? Was there something else she knew that he didn't? Was she simply using him, seeking out comfort? Could that have been all? "Pf. Well fine, if ya want me to die then."

Fuu could tell that warm tears would soon form in her eyes. She didn't want him to die. 'How could he think that?' But how could she tell him? Rukono was just behind that door, ready to shoot Mugen the moment she uttered the word poison. 'Maybe I can sign it to him.'

After a few seconds of rigorous thinking another sinking feeling hit her stomach, and it dawned on her that not only did she not know sign language, but that he probably didn't either. She put her head down, trying desperately to hide her eyes as they glazed over. Fuu had promised. She wasn't going to cry. "I…"

"I know you know. Tell me damn it." Fuu just shook her head no, occasionally mumbling in a whisper. It was all she could do not to break down in sorrow at feeling completely useless. "I can't…"

Mugen took hold of her arms, squeezing them harder than necessary. He didn't understand.

"Don't make me…" She winced when his grip tightened.

'God fucking damn it…what the hell!' Mugen was getting pissed off at her. Time was ticking away, and she wouldn't tell him shit. This wasn't how it was suppose to go…Why? Why did they AWLAYS mess up? His grip on her arms tightened, making her cry out in pain.

Upon hearing this sound of discomfort uttered from the lips of the woman he cherished, Mugen removed his hands with a blinding speed. 'Fuck!'

It took a moment, but nimbly--as if her bravery was slowly reviving--Fuu crossed her arms over her chest to touch the bruising skin. Coming to the realization that he had let go. 'Don't go…' She wanted him to hold her again. To feel safe in his arms again. This wasn't how it was suppose to happen…

"Sorry…" He breathed in a barely audible whisper, now it was his turn to hide his face.

Letting him know that it was alright, Fuu leaned her white forehead softly against him. "Don't ask again…Please don't." She whined, nudged deeper into him to emphasize this last point.

She felt him sigh, his lungs emptying themselves of all their air. "Fine."

Mugen moved to wrap his arms around her once more, to engulf her small body with his own, but was stopped. Having come to realize that Fuu was no longer at his side.

With an almost inhuman speed, Rukono had snatching her from him. Holding her by the wrist in an almost brutal way, though it did not show. "Pardon me, but your time has expired."

The warmth in her died down quickly as she realized that the man beside her wasn't Mugen. 'No…' She tried her hardest not to glare at him, tried her hardest not to look back at Mugen with desperate eyes. Though she as absolutely sure Mugen had caught on--she knew Rukono knew as well--she figured that the game was half the fun for him.

"Now, to dinner." He offered his arm to Fuu while a pair of thick men came up behind Mugen. Feeling she had no choice, Fuu swallowed another gag, slip her fingers around his forearm and forced another smile. Rukono, apparently pleased with her display, left the room, motioning with his hands for the men to take Mugen by another way.

As they walked down the rice paper coated hallway both parties kept their eyes facing forward. Though once, Fuu did sneak a glance at him from the corner of her eye. Just out of curiosity. The man wasn't unattractive, but Fuu decided that she preferred him with the mask on. Because that way, no one could see the madness in his eyes.

The minute it took to walk down that secluded hallway with Rukono nearly killed Fuu. Though it was over soon, and they found themselves enter the dinning room at the same time as Mugen and his 'escorts.' During this time and while everyone was being seated, Fuu tried to think of someway to interfere with Rukono's plan. Though no matter how hard she thought no brilliant or viable ideas came to her. What could she do? It seemed just about hopeless at that point.

The room was set up like one of those fancy inn's that the threesome could never hope to afford. Plush pillows were set around the bare oak table, and the room was lit in a particularly romantic way with just one large oil bowl at the front of the room. Rukono claimed the head of the table, while Fuu and Mugen sat across from each other closer to the middle. This seating arrangement seemed a bit strange, as there was still room for at least another ten people to each table length.

A moment after all were in place a small group of servants came out bearing trays and bowls with food. Fuu recognized Neta the moment the girl walked in the room, easily picking her out from crowd. Though the girl was not quite so welcome when Fuu saw what was in her hands.

There it was, held up by her long, thin fingers sat the tray which carried the sake.

Like an executioner walking towards head block, she carried it towards them, then silently handed out the tree cups. Fuu decided that the woman either didn't know what she was doing, or was a very good actress. For there was no expression on her face which might have portrayed even the slightest feeling of guilt or suspicion. It was almost like she was dead. Lost deep down in her own thoughts even. Fuu eventually tore her eyes away, focusing instead on the meal before her.

Mugen watched the whole scene with nonchalant eyes, he couldn't care less. The 'elaborate accommodations' didn't impress him. Everything in that house, even the food and booze, pissed him off. For the simple reason that it all belong to Rukono. Jealousy, and envy had taken over his brain at the moment. Which proved to be helpful in controlling his desire to separate the man's head from his body.

He couldn't help thinking that this was the kind of life she deserved, this luxury, richness, the simple essence of every objected inside held an air or romance. Nothing he would ever be able to do for her could amount to that. Not even to half of that. By forcing his anger towards these thoughts, Mugen was able to kept himself in check.

Once everything was ready, the steaming food served, the guests seated, the 'dagger' in place, Rukono lifted his glass to make a toast. "And now I would like to say a few words before we eat." Winking at Fuu for dramatic effect, he added. "It 'tis only proper after all."

His gaze turned now to Mugen, and Fuu realized that if not Neta, than _he_ was certainly an amazing actor. How someone so evil could lie so well she would never know. It must be one of those unanswerable things, she finally decided. Like the question, how could someone become addicted to something which tasted so terrible?

With an almost brotherly smile he continued. "Let this be a drink, to friendship, and the bonds of love. Also to power, for without power, there is nothing one may do for those they love."

'Damn right…fucking bastard.'

'That is so not true!'

'Mechi…'

As Neta watched on, she tried hard to build up the courage to execute what she was about to do. Even though her love for Mechi told her not too, her conscience wouldn't let her walk away without trying. This was her one and only chance to help her friend.

Fuu had been so good to her, befriended her, something she had no had in a very long time. It wasn't fair. Why, why should the couple, who might actually have a chance at true love, be further separated than she and her Mechi? If anything, she wouldn't let death keep them apart. At least not when she could do something. There was no way she was going to let Mechi get away with this. He had destroyed too many lives already.

Just as her love was about to end his speech of lies, she walked back into the scene. Trying to make it looked like an accident, she tripped on her sandal strap in front of the oil bowl. Spilling the contents of her tray into it.

The water from the glasses had no effect on the oil, simply spreading over the top of it. However, when the liquid collided with the fragile wick and flame the light of the room was doused. Sending it's four occupants into the darkness of a summer night.

Like a line of dominos, many things happened one after the other. Fuu's first reaction was to scream, which caused Mugen to leap up. Knocking against the table with his knee. "Fuck!" "Please remain calm! Someone, bring a torch!" Rukono began screaming orders to his servants, fumbling around in the dark room blindly for Neta.

In less than half a minute everything was back the way it had been, with the exception of a slightly spilled bowl of fried rice. The light in the center of the room had been re-lit, and everyone had settled down.

'Damn it..' Mugen rubbed his knee, waiting for this whole mess to be over with.

"Ah, where was I?" Rukono ran a hand through his long black hair, attempting to flatten it from the uproar. "Oh yes, to power…and love." He took up his cup and drank.

The other two followed suit, gulping down the hot liquid in a quick swig until not a drop was left. Neither Mugen nor Rukono took note of the small tears in Fuu's eyes.

"Ah…much better. Now." Rukono stood up, and drew his sword. "For dessert."

No sooner had the sinister man made his weapon naked than Mugen had draw his own sword from it's shabby scabbard. His body riveting with the will to battle. To kill.

Glaring at him with angry eyes, Mugen shifted into a fighting stance. "You have no idea how much I want to kill you."

Fuu watched the two with frightened eyes. The tears which had resided there were already gone, as if they had been mealy the type of tears which appear in the eyes of one who is yawning. Gone in an instant after the display of exhaustion is over.

'Please Mugen…please. Please don't die…'

The air in the room seemed to freeze over with an unnatural chill, and not even the slightest sound was heard. Like the quiet before a terrible storm.

"AH!" Mugen couldn't wait any longer. This bastard had put them through too much today. Having no idea about the poison, he lunged into the battle. Swinging down hard on Rukono's head.

Rukono smiled, and for a moment he held the appearance of a true devil. Clang! The two metals collided, and he pushed Mugen off with a flick of his wrist. Clang! The two metals collided, and again Mugen's attack was blocked, shoved off for him to try again. Clang, clank clang!

Their brawl moved all about the room, each violently swinging at the other, though neither did more than produce a sweat from their rival. In this process, much of the room had come dismantled. The table and all it's contents were now on the floor, one of the dishes had been crushed by Mugen's steal plated sandals.

'This bastard ain't gonna win, I won't let him!'

'Child's play.'

Rukono made a pass at Mugen with the tip of his sword while the haphazard samurai came out of defensive spin. "Hey!" Mugen tumbled onto the floor, receiving only a small nick to his forehead. Though the cry had not been his own, but Fuu's. "Mugen!"

It was then that Mugen that realized Fuu was still there. After nearly five minutes of brutal fighting, and she had not left. Clank! They were locked in another stand-still. Both pushed hard on the others sword, trying to gain a victor of strength. Mugen turned his head a bit to yell at her. Didn't she realized she could be hurt? What if a stroke when array? What if she ended up the victim dead? How could he forgive himself? All of it would be for nothing!

"You freaking bitch! Why the HELL are you still in here!"

Fuu flinched at his words, but she offered him no answer, her body wasn't responding as well as she had hoped. 'Please don't sound so mad. I just…just want to be with you…' She could feel herself slipping again.

Receiving no answer, Mugen knew he would have to be the one to move. With a speed much increased from his previous attacks, Mugen plunged his sword at Rukono. The sharp, life ending tip just barely gouged into the man's arm. As he was too slow to move or to block it.

"Ah!" Rukono's face changed, now he was really mad. Clutching at this minor wound he returned Mugen's glare and growl. So that when Mugen bolted into the next room—knocking down a piece of the wall to do so—he had no problem following. 'It's almost time!' Just a minute more and the poison would take effect.

Their brawl continued resulting in the effect that not only the dinning room, but two other rooms had become severely trashed. Expensive pots had been knocked from their upright positions. The paper on the walls had been torn, often with holes poked through them. Wall hangings of silk lay strewn about. And other decorations, which could have bought happiness for some poor family, ended up in destruction.

Sweat dripped from both parties bodies like the tiny waterfalls one places in a Zen garden. The battle had not gone on long, but they had both received one injury.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, during a pause for breath, Rukono burst out in laughter. It was an almost insane sound, and it's volume allowed it to be heard throughout the house.

In their separate quarters, a few of the serving men shivered. Non of them liked their employer, most of them simply feared him. And though he had done some very frightening things, not one of them was as frightening as that laugh.

Mugen just raised a bushy eyebrow at him. "What the hell is your problem?" 'Man…this bastard is freaky…'

Rukono halted in his victorious howl to answer. "I have won." 'He will fall in 1…Mugen put his sword back into position…2…Gaining speed he charged…3' and hacked Rukono's right arm off with one swift blow.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" The man stumbled backwards, shock and horror written over his face as he screamed in agony. Though it was more an agony of the mind than a agony of the body. "What the hell! What the fucking hell!"

"Eh?" Mugen was confused, and pissed off. Not a good combination.

With his right arm dripping blood heavily onto the floor, he pointed at Mugen using his left. "YOU! You should be dead! The poison! The poi--…" His face, twisted with pain, twisted further as a sinister smirk turned to a smile. Then he laughed once more. "That bitch! Hahahaha I should have known! Haha-uhph" Rukono coughed out a mouthful of blood in the middle of his insane banter.

This sparked Mugen's anger further, and he grabbed Rukono by the collar of his kimono, lifting the tall man to his face. "What the hell are you talking about!" He screamed. For some odd reason, he felt the deepest urge to hurt him further for calling Fuu a bitch. In his opinion, only HE could say so about her.

Chuckling with that same insane momentum, Rukono answered through half a mouthful of blood. "She drank it. Hehehe. She drank it." Mugen let Rukono fall to the floor. A cold, painful realization came over his heart. 'Fuu…' In that moment of darkness, she must have switched their cups. She had known. That was what she couldn't tell him.

His brain suddenly seemed to come into function. Rukono must have threatened her with something, so that if she told something worse might happen. That was why she couldn't. Probably the same thing he had told her he would do if she didn't behave at the marketplace.

This realization cause a reaction he was sure he had never felt before. An extreme anger, the feeling that he KNEW he could kill anything or anyone at that moment. Even Jin.

With pure adrenaline pulsating through his body, lifting his sword for the death blow, Mugen bellowed out in rage. "YOU BASTARD!" "Stop!"

It was at that very second that Neta choose to enter the bloody scene. Coming out from her hiding place behind the broken wall she threw herself over Rukono's twitching body in a means to protect him. "Don't kill him!"

In a blurry haze the scene seemed to change in Mugen's eyes. It was no longer Rukono on the floor bleeding, but him. "Please don't kill him!" Instead of Neta is was Fuu, pleading for _his_ life. Her body overlapping his.

"Please…"

Letting his sword fall on the ground he backed off, just like that woman had done. Taking pity on the pleas of another. Neta looked up, and saw this. Her face was stained wet with tears, and she reached into the chest her kimono to pull out a small vial containing a green tinted liquid. "H-h-here. I-it's the a-a-antidote." Her words were mixed with fear for the man who stood above her. Fresh tears continued to run down her face.

Without a word of gratitude, Mugen snatched the skinny bottle from her hand with enough force to break it—though it did not—and bolted towards the hole in the wall the fight had created. Just in time to hear Fuu cry out in pain.

This sound fed Mugen's haste, though he was tired from the fight. He didn't want her to make that noise ever again. Not when he could stop it, not when he could protect her.

"Hey!" Finally he returned to the first room, though it was just a few seconds it seemed too long. Fuu was still there, slowly sliding down the wall upon which she had supported herself. Clutching tightly at the sides of her stomach in pain. Her whole body shook as she let another out a bowel wrenching scream. "Haauah!"

"Hey!" He repeated, running to her side, and taking hold of her shoulders. Prying her away from the wall with more gentle a touch than he had ever used before. Carefully he set her down, so that her lower half rested on the floor, and her abdomen lay cradled against him. 'She's shakin' too much…'

It was true, the vibrations of her body were un-nerving. Like all her muscles were going through spasms at once. "M-mu….Mugen….uuah!"

'Why…' Mugen put his left hand behind her head, supporting it to stay upward. His left hand looked big against her head, making her look even smaller. 'She _is_ small.' With the other, he held the bottle. 'Common…'

Uncorking it from the side of his mouth with his teeth, he pushed it on her. "Drink." He commanded after spitting out the lid. Holding her tight by the hair so that her head wouldn't move with the spasms. 'Common, work. It's gotta, damn it!' Mugen didn't know what he'd do if she died.

Fuu's eyes were glazing over, and she was finding it hard to concentrate on anything. It was now or never. She had to tell him right now or loose her chance forever. The girl could feel in her bones that she was going to die. "Mugen…I…I lo--" "Shut up! Don't talk! You have to drink this shit!"

"…"

'Mugen. I told you you'd do that someday…' Chuckling in her mind at their predicament, she closed her eyes and lifted her head a tiny bit so that her pale lips touched the rim of the tilted glass. Mugen did the rest, tipping it so that the liquid ran down into her mouth, into her throat. Her body was convulsing so much he was surprised none of it had spilled.

He watched as this violent shaking gradually stopped. Her body quieted, and now lay still. Too still. She started slipping away, a cold sweat broke out on her forehead, and she became visibly paler. "Damn it!" 'Eseme…gotta get her to Eseme!'

He set her back down against the wall, hoping she would stay propped up long enough for him to get her on his back. Turning around, Mugen scooted into her, then reached backwards with his arms to grab her and pull her onto him. He would carry her all the way back down the mountain if he had to!

"Listen, your gonna have to hold on!"

"Hmm…mhm…" Fuu mumbled, fighting hard to keep her consciousness, she wrapped her arms slowly around his neck as he stood up and bolted for the exit. "Damn it damn it damn it!" He yelled as they burst into the open night air. Why? Why did these things have to happen? Just when they were finally getting somewhere they had to be separated! WHY DAMN IT!

One thing was for sure. If Fuu didn't make it, he could come back and finish the job with Rukono.

ALRIGHT PEOPLE! YA ASKED FOR THE FLUFF WELL THERE IT IS! The mini luv scene tehe yes, that's right you'll have to WAIT for the BIG one. -.- and yes….I realized that that scene probably won't take place in the time set of this fic. for a while….seeing as how by that time their destination is already Nagasaki….but DAMN IT I hadn't seen that episode until last saturday! (sniffle, whimper) so please forgive (blows nose on first draft of chapter)


	17. What's in a name

Note to audience: see Author Time at the bottom AFTER reading the chapter.

Mugen ran up the wooden ramp that allowed passage in and out of the deep cavity concealing Rukono's home. The contraption had remained down since the time when the masked man ushered him inside. He then lunged head first into the dark, unknown forest ahead. Unsure of what was in store for them.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" He swore allowed. From what he remembered of the length of the trip, the village was probably a half hour's run with. And with her on his back it might be even longer. The problem weighed heavily upon his mind, because he wasn't sure if they had a half hour to waste. Even now, he could feel Fuu's grip on his neck was slipping…could feel her arms loosen, the skimpy muscles beneath the soft skin relaxing. Her head was becoming heavier over her shoulder as well, and every time he leapt up to avoid a bush she slipped a little to the right.

'I gotta keep her awake. 'Dun-know what'll happen if she goes out.' He thought, half his mind on the pale girl he was supporting, the other half on the non-existent path. "Hey!" He called to her, running at his best speed through the dense underbrush. "Hey you, tell me why we're here."

"Mmm?" Fuu mumbled into his shirt, not quite all there in the mind at the moment. "But…you said not…to…talk." Her voice came out small, and broken. Sad almost. Mugen tried not to let this get to him. Focus, he had to focus. Another jump, her head was off his shoulder.

"Well I'm sayin' talk now!" He bellowed at her, at the same time ducking underneath a thick evergreen branch. This damn valley was so fucking troublesome!

"'Bout what?" She asked, not aware that she was slowly falling from her savior.

"That smelly guy." He snapped back, not paying attention to her composure or the sharpness of his voice. Too pissed off by the fact that he was running around half blinded by the night.

"Mmm…what about him?" Her voice became a little slurred too.

"Anything!" If he squinted his eyes, he was sure he could see some kind of light. No…it was just his hopeful imagination… Hevaguely remembered Eseme babbling on about some rule…what was it? No lamp lights after the sun goes down? 'Fuck…' That Rukono bastard was still causing problems for them, even now. Like the dead honeybee's stinger still clinking to its undefeated enemy.

"He's really hard to find…" Everything was a sleepy, blurry haze for Fuu. Though her body wasn't throbbing with pain anymore, she had to fight hard to keep awake. Focusing on the thought of seeing Mugen. Of living, and seeing his face again.

Swinging his head from side to side, Mugen looked for the scratch marks on the trees in the dark. Only the faint light of the moon kept him from loosing track of the very nose in front of his face. 'Where damn it? Where!'

"He always wore this blue kimono. And…he left when I was a kid. But sometimes I'd pretend, and play like he'd come back…"

'That fucking village has to be here somewhere!' What would happen if he never found it? What then? Fuu would die out in that large mass of nowhere, and it would be his fault. All his fault, for not being strong enough, or fast enough.

Just when he was about to lash out in complete panic, Mugen looked up. It was then that he saw the black outline of the towering mountain. A little light of hope shone for him now, and with renewed passion he ran towards that light. If he found the other side of the valley, at least that would get him somewhere.

Breathing hard to push on, not really listening to Fuu as she talked, Mugen struggled to get her to Eseme. Running now not on the power of his legs or the energy he had, but on the thought that if he got her there in time she could live. She could live and be happy, just like she deserved.

"Mugen…I was really worried. I thought…maybe you wouldn't…come." Fuu whispered in a barely audible voice.

These sudden, unexpected and seemingly random words sent a lightening pole through his heart.

"Of course I was gonna, idiot!" He told her, putting extra force and meaning into his words. Mugen took a hard right, and though he had a grip on her legs Fuu was sent flying from him. Letting out only a mild cry as she hit the ground. Most of her body was numb anyway.

Mugen whipped around after feeling the tiny burden that was Fuu lifted from him. His eyes went wide and he felt panic creeping up on him again. Like a sickness, or darkness, something that just kept coming back. "OY!"

Fuu tried her hardest to sit up, but could only push herself onto her side. Within a mere moment of her fall she felt Mugen slide his arm under her ribs and pull her torso up off the ground. With eyes half closed she gazed at him like an extremely sleepy child. 'So close…his face…it's so close…'

Her vision was too blurry to see much of anything in detail, though she could just barely make out the worried expression on his face. Giggling quietly at this strange new look, she reached up and wiped some of the blood from his face. "You're hurt…"

For a moment Mugen relaxed. The sound of her voice—almost cooing—and the feel of her hand on his forehead were enough to do that.

"Don't do that." He commanded. Taking hold of her weak fingers, and removing them from his face, set them down to rest across her stomach. His voice has lost all roughness, all its' intended power. He hated that.

Fuu smiled with exhaustion at him, the tips of her white teeth just barely show between her parted lips. "…Why…?"

Giving her a warning scowl, Mugen could feel the hasty determination flow back into his system. Swinging his other arm under her legs he lifted her into the air. Not willing to take any more chances with her falling again.

"Keep talking." His voice was still soft, like it had been that night on the porch. Fuu felt something warm inside her when he spoke like this. Welcoming the strange feeling, wishing it could chase away all the cold she was feeling.

"But Mugen…"

"No buts! We're almost there, so you damn well better no fall asleep!" The scruffy samurai took off once more, with another extreme burst of speed towards the black mountain. Small beads of sweat flew from his brow.

"…it hurts…" Though he kept moving, Mugen felt numb. She was in pain. The antidote should have started working by now, but she was in pain. Why? What the hell was wrong? Did he not give her enough? Was she…dying?

He didn't answer, just concentrated on running. Closer, he could tell they were getting closer to the village. His sense of smell told him so.

Sunflowers, when on their own, usually held a smell that was barely noticeable. But when in enormous groups like those in the fields, they produced an un-ignorable scent. Overpowering almost to all things around it.

Her head began to fell heavy against his chest after a few minutes, and it scared him. What did that mean?

Mugen didn't have long to agonize over this new tribulation. For it was then that they came bursting through the forest and into the all too familiar marketplace. Everything was just as it had been when Mugen left. With the exception that nobody was crowding around the boots, and there was no smell of divine culinary production wavering from Ren's shop. Breathing heavily, Mugen carried her the final distance to Eseme's house. Kicking down the door in ecstatic fever. "HAG!" He bellowed into the house, causing the old woman to come running.

"Fuu!" She cried out, seeing her in Mugen's arms. Now that the unconscious girl was inside the well-lit house her whiteness seemed to have magnified. It was a sickening, almost corpse-like pale.

"What happened?" Eseme asked quickly, not bothering to pick up the door from the floor "Poison. I gave her the anticrap, but then she got like this." Muen followed Eseme into Fuu's room, he then lay her down carefully on the futon.

The aged doctor put two fingers to Fuu's throat. "Her pulse is being very low. What was un happening before you gave her antidote?"

"She was having spasms or something. I don't know. Lil' bitch just kept screaming and holding her stomach, and she wouldn't stop shaking."

After hearing this, Eseme knew what had happened. It was _that_.

"Eseme! Look at what brother made!" The teenage Iro pointed at his brother as the older boy came up behind him, the younger smiling widely.

A middle-aged Eseme looked at the boys from over her shoulder. Not wanting to get up from her crouched position over her precious garden. "What is it being of now?"

"This new potion I just mixed up. Want to see what it can do?"

Eseme smiled a little, then turned around so she could have a better view. "Why not?"

Mechi poured it on a weed by the porch, and as the foul smelling, clear liquid seeped into the plant's roots the stalk slowly started to erode. So that in a matter of minutes it had bent to the side. Soon after it fell down to the ground like a dead corpse, shedding all it's leafs in the process.

At first Eseme could do nothing but stare. She had heard him talking about making Japan's best weed-killer, but never thought he would actually go about making one. Though…this was a little extreme. "Is it un safe for humans?"

He just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. 'Haven't tested it yet."

Eseme stood up, calmly brushed some of the dirt from her knees, and stared at him with a face expressing worry, concern, and a slight coldness.

"Eh? Eseme, what's wrong?" Iro asked, looking up at her from his place by Mechi—he was almost a head shorter than Eseme at this age. The young boy had been so impressed by his older brother's invention, he couldn't comprehend why Eseme wasn't.

When she informed Bahck of the occurrence, the normally calm man was furious. So much so that he almost through the teenager from his house.

"I wasn't seriously thinking about testing it on people!" Mechi argued back while the older man scolded him for, not only playing with hazardous materials, but creating an illegal concoction.

In the end, Eseme and Bahck forbid him to make it again, and to released all that he had already made far from the sunflower fields in the rocks on the other side of the valley.

As he grew older, however, he continued to work on this creation. Testing it secretly on birds and lizards he caught. Few of his test subjects survived. Eventually he found a way to cook it so that the poison remained but the smell and color were gone. He made an antidote too, just incase he or Iro ever accidentally spilled it on themselves or drank it.

The day he took over the village was the day he tested it on a live human. Laughing madly as the specimen screamed and lashed about on the ground.

"Dis is his work. Rukono made this while he was living wit me." She said solemnly, a sad expression crept over her wrinkled face, and she looked down at Fuu with eyes almost full of tears.

"De antidote ish more brutal den de poison to de body. De only difference is, with de poison, you will die. No doubt. But wit de antidote, you have fifty-fifty chance."

"Fuck!" Mugen cursed, taking a pause from inhaling large gulps of air. Partly from fatigue and partly in despair he hit the ground. His legs burned, so did his arms and stomach muscles. Almost everything ached with exhaustion. "S…so what do we gotta do?" He asked, his voice rough and scary again, his first word interrupted by a heave of a cough.

Eseme put her hand on Fuu's forehead. 'De fever ish coming…' "When you recover, go fetch me un bucket of water from de well in middle of town."

She didn't look back at him as she said her request.

Not bothering with the 'when you recover' part of her sentence, Mugen stood up and half stumbled out the door. Grabbing for the bucket on his way out of the old house.

Eseme shook her head before turning back to Fuu. 'How could dis happen….' Mugen would have a lot to explain when he got back.

On Mugen's slow walk to the well he had a lot to think about. And many things to try and not think about—such as his legs which were making loud protests about being used again so soon. Though it seemed like his brain had gone numb, working at a slower pace than normal—for Mugen after all. It was still dawning in his mind what Fuu had done for him. That poison had been for him, Rukono had said so, and yet…she took the blow. Why? What kind of supernatural forces could have ordained such an act?

"Damn it…" That feeling. That sensation in his stomach, the ones that felt like bugs were jumping around inside…Did she feel those too? Could she love him? Was it possible?

"Hey! Old hag!" He called, returning from his mission. Receiving no answer, he walked towards Fuu's room with a quizzical and sweaty brow. "Oy!"

Suddenly, a very flustered Eseme slid open the rice paper door. She took the water from him and hurried back inside, slamming the door in his face.

Mugen thought he was going to throw up. What happened while he was gone? He threw the door aside, barging into the room. When he saw Fuu his blood ran cold. She was sweaty, panting, flushed with a fever, and more importantly, partly naked.

The two windows of the room were wide open, letting the cold valley air pour in. Eseme looked up from squeezing the water onto Fuu's exposed chest, and in a fit of rage tried to wrestle Mugen out of the room. "Get out get out! 'Ave you no respect for Fuu-girlie's dignity!"

Mugen struggled. "I'll close my eyes damn it!" As he spoke he did so. For the first time in his life he didn't care about looking at boobs, that other instinct in him just wanted to be there.

"GET OUT!" She bellowed, flushed with embarrassment for Fuu.

"Fuck no! I gotta be there when she wakes up! I have to tell her I lied!" Why these words were coming out of Mugen's mouth he couldn't say. Why did he suddenly want to tell her so badly? Was it because…he thought she might die before he could?

Glaring him down, Eseme said in a cold voice. "If you keep this up, keep me from treating her, she might NEVER wake up."

These frozen words made Mugen go limp. He immediately ceasing his struggle and bolting from the room. Like a dog that had been hit by it's master, when it only wished to retrieve a favorite toy from beyond the door.

"Mugen…" Fuu breathed as Eseme removed the rest of her kimono. Her weak voice was hoarse, and parched. As if she had just spent several days in a scorching desert. "Where…."

The poor girl was sure she had just heard his voice, so he must have been somewhere nearby…right?

"Shh. Don't be talking Fuu girlie." Eseme didn't want to separate them, but she knew Fuu wouldn't want Mugen to see her naked with her permission. Even if he did say he would close his eyes.

"Ok mom…" Fuu answered, she was obviously delusional. She coughed violently soon after giving this reply.

"Fuck! Fucking, fucking fuck!" Mugen yelled out into the night. He had been exiled to the porch. What was he? Yesterday's trash?

It was then that Mugen noticed his sword was missing. "Ah fuck!" He screamed again, pounding his first into the ground, so that his knuckles bled. "Gah…" He mumbled in defeat, collapsing into the hard ground of Eseme's backyard. Turning his head away from the soil so that he might not suffocate, Mugen found himself face to face with a jar. "…" He recognized it as the jar from a few nights ago. The flower was still inside, only now it had suffocated, roasted by the sun's light magnified by the glass. If Mugen knew what the hell symbolic irony was, this was it. The seemingly depressed man sighed, spiting out a small rock after realizing it had snuck into his mouth.

'_My idea of rough is not having anyone to help you when you need it.'_ She didn't need his help. Right now, there was nothing he could do for her…Hell, it was his fault she was this way. That poison was for HIM. It had been HIM who had killed Rukono's brother. So why was SHE paying for it? Why?

"Damn it…" Mugen felt like someone had taken his heart and ripped it right out of his chest, then threw it to the floor and stomped on it while he watched. He would have given just about anything right then for his and Fuu's positions to be switched.

Fuu was a good person, even if she was annoying, or self absorbed sometimes, that quality was always there. She cared about things, about people, and even about him. A lowlife, murdering, criminal who didn't know the first thing about compassion. He had been so mean to her throughout their journey. Mugen winced, thinking back a few days, to when his jealousy had taken control of his mouth.

"_What about your boyfriend? What's his name, Ten?"_

"_Don't gimme that shit, I know how much you like it here with that old Hag. Having a job again, and yay for you, there's a strait guy in this village who's willin to sleep with you for free!"_

Even though he had tortured her in such ways she had taken the fall for him.

He had to be there when she woke up, he didn't know exactly how, but he knew he had to be there. He wanted the first thing she saw to be him.

With these thoughts on his mind, Mugen drifted into an uneasy sleep. Though this bit of rest was good for him, it was plagued with the sight of blood, fever, and a tombstone decorated by three sunflowers.

Mugen woke again the next morning in the same place, with the same dead flower staring at him. There was nothing particularly interesting about this morning. It looked the same as every damn morning did…only this time…

"Man…" He rubbed his head, it was pounding with an ache that wouldn't' go away. Getting up, he groggily made his way back to Fuu's room. Deciding that knocking on the door this time would be the better option, he wrapped his knuckles against the oak.

An exhausted looking Eseme answer, sliding the door open for him to come in. "Oy, old hag. You don't look so good."

"Shut up potty mouth." She hissed at him, rubbing her soar temples. Mugen looked over her head a Fuu, fully clothed again, but still a little flushed. "She still out?"

"Yes." Eseme turned away from Mugen and sat down by Fuu's head again. She took the wet cloth from the girl's forehead and replaced it with one that had been sitting in the bucket of water Mugen had brought last night.

Walking carefully, he joined her. Peering down into the bucket. It looked just about empty. Mugen picked it up to go re-fill it, but Eseme stopped him. "It's almost over. She won't be needing de head compress much longer."

This sparked a bit of hope for Mugen.

"I am being right back, watch her. If compress gets too warm, swap it." Mugen nodded, taking her place as the old woman left the room. He didn't noticed that the windows were closed.

'Her hair's all wet…' Mugen had noticed that he was doing strange things, things he had never done—or considered doing—before. Reaching down to brush a piece of wet hair from her pink tinted face with a tender touch, was one of them.

Like a corpse, she had no reaction to his contact, and it made his chest hurt. His hand lingered on her check. Mugen didn't seem to be able to pull it away. Never before had such raw emotions completely overcome him. Engulfing him so that he couldn't breath, couldn't blink, couldn't move of his own free will. It was obnoxious, impossible even.

His eyes widened when the blush left her, and she became pale again. In a panic, he watched her shiver. "Eseme!" Mugen ripped Bahck's kimono from his body—so that he stood now in only his black shorts—and lay it over her. Seeing that this did not help much he ran to find Eseme. "Old hag!"

At this last call for help, Eseme re-entered the scene with a large armload of blankets. Throwing them all down on the floor, Eseme began to bark orders. "Pick her up!" "Eh?" "Get her off de Futon!"

Reacting with slightly retarded movements, Mugen slipped his hands under her back and legs, lifting her the way he had done just the night before. Cradling her to his bare chest.

While he did this, Eseme lay two quilts over the ground padding. "Put her back down." Mugen did this, like a zombie following the orders of it's creator. While he took the time to set her head down so that it did not 'bonk' Eseme began to pile the rest of the sheets, quilts and yukatas1 over her.

"Damn…Her lips is turning blue…." Mugen saw this and his panic rose in it's level of seriousness. "Ain't there anything else you can do!"

Eseme's face scrounged with seriousness. "Give her un minute to adjust to de insulations….Her body heat should do…"

Mugen looked at Eseme. There were bags under her eyes and he could have sworn her grey hair lightened just a little bit. "Hey. Old hag. I'll watch her."

"Hm?" She looked at him skeptically from the corner of her eye.

"Ya need some sleep. I'll watch her." He repeated, his voice holding as much annoyance as he could stuff into it . "Cuz damn it, if you needed to do some kinda doctor shit to her, but fell asleep and let her die, I'd kill you."

Esemed nodded in understanding and left with much less argument than Mugen had anticipated. Closing the door behind her with a sharp 'snap!'.

Mugen was thrown off balance a moment later when his two shirts suddenly flew against the side of his face. Grumbling something about 'bitchy old hag' he slipped both over his head. Now clothed in his normal apparel Mugen felt a bit like himself again...just…with feelings.

Letting out a sigh he looked back down at the woman he had promised to protect. Was this yet another side effect of the antidote? He wanted to help, and now he had a chance. Settling down next to the large lump of blankets he crawled between two layers of the blankets. Neither were the two she was occupying—so that there was something keeping their bodies from touching directly.

Almost an hour later, he continued to watch her sleeping form, his arms slightly muscular arms wrapped around her. Those lips, which previously shivered with a blue pigment, were slowly reverting to their natural pink tint. Never before had he felt this kind of passion. It wasn't of sexual desires. No, it was a passion to protect, to touch her in a way that made her feel safe. Brushing his hand over her check he could feel that it was still cold.

After a while her shivers stopped, and she even turned her head a bit. Mumbling something completely inaudible.

Not receiving the fast response he had hopped for, Mugen slipped out from the bed. Scooping her into his arms again—blankets and all—like an enormous egg roll. 'Yum…food…'

With her head rested against his chest Mugen held Fuu. Sitting patiently with his back against the wall for most of the day. As she slowly grew warmer he would shed article after article of fabric until nothing was left but a blanket and the kimono he had first put on her.

The old Mugen, the man who never cared about anything except food, sex, and slaughter, would never have put up with such a tedious vigil. But this Mugen, the one he had found trying to burst out on the trip, the one who had told him to embrace Fuu as comfort, the one who wouldn't let her stay out in the rain, the one who just had to go get a blanket for her, that Mugen loved it.

There was something about staring at her face which made him feel so peaceful, happy almost. Fuu was beautiful when she slept. Her eyelashes brushed against her cheek in the most serene way, and when some of the color came back to her skin he could see that it had a bit of a natural glow to it. For a while his mind wandered back to the previous night. His eyes weren't really focused on it, but he _had_ seen her breasts.

Mugen was trying very hard to remember in detail, thought it eventually proved impossible. So instead he closed his eyes and made up a body for her. This was not an unusual practice for Mugen. He had done it several times, on several different occasions. Although, this time it was different. This time, it was realistic, very unlike his usual fantasies which always included women with abnormally large breasts and particularly tiny waists.

But Fuu wasn't one of those bodacious beauties, and he knew it. She was small, so it was obvious that she would be skinny, with a small chest, petite hips and curves…

He could feel a bit of his former self emerging with these nude thoughts, but he didn't have time to enjoy this small breakthrough before his world stopped.

"…M…Mu…gen…." Mugen's eyes snapped open, and he looked down at Fuu with an almost overly hopeful expression. Had she finally woken up? "Yeah?" He answered gruffly so that he wouldn't sound desperate.

Mugen waited a full five minutes before giving up, sighing almost agitatedly. 'She must'a just been mumbling something in her sleep.'

Wait! Did that mean….she was….dreaming about him? Thinking back to his own dream, Mugen wondered if it had been as graphic for her. 'Eh, probably not. Bitch is still a virgin.'

He almost winced, was he still calling her that? 'Just outta habit I guess…' It dawned on him—like many things had that day—that he had never said her name. Not even once in the whole time he had known her. Not to her face, not behind her back, not once.

Re-positioning her slightly so that her head was almost rested against his neck. He brought his right hand around over the side of her head to brush her forehead, then her cheek, with the rough ends of his fingers. It was an almost apologetic touch. Tender, and caring in it's own way. 'Damn…'

The rough samurai decided then and there that when Fuu woke up, he would say her name to her…and tell her he had lied that night on the porch. Tell her how worried he had been, and what a freakin' pain she was for causing it.

"Gone soft have you then?" Came a very unexpected voice at the door. Mugen's head snapped up and to the side in almost a single, bone breaking motion. His heart had suddenly started beating faster, and an adrenaline pumped through his veins at the feeling of being caught like a criminal. This was the second time it had happened to him as a result of Fuu.

His eyes grew wide, realizing who it was. "Oy! What the hell are you doin' here!"

The beautiful but deadly samurai Jin gave Mugen an empty glare as he stepped into the room and knelt down by Fuu in his traditional, disciplined stance. "I was going to ask you two the same. Though it appears Fuu will not be able to answer."

For the past ten days Jin had been working at the shabby restaurant. Pulling in a pretty good salary, but extremely bored non the less. On the tenth day he decided it was time to find out if his comrades were ever coming back. He took his leave of the store keeper—being a woman, she had many complaints, and even offered him more money if he stayed, all of which he declined—and headed out the same way he had returned a week and a half before.

Since it was just him, the journey had only consumed two days instead of the supposed four. After arriving in the sunflower town that morning, he had spent the rest of the day asking everyone he came across if they had seen a tall, scruffy looking man accompanying a girl dressed in pink.

'Odd…these townsfolk seem so…jittery. Almost as if they are waiting for something brutal to happen.'

Only one person dared tell him the truth, pointing towards Eseme's quaint house at the end of the long strip of town.

Upon reaching the house instructed, Jin listened to see if he could hear anything. When no inside noises could be detected, he knocked on the door. For a moment he thought he would receive no answer, but then an old, short, European woman answered the door.

"Forgive me for disturbing you, but do you know anything about a girl named Fuu or a boy named Mugen? They would be traveling together, perhaps have asked about a Samurai who smells of sunflowers?"

Eseme rubbed her eyes of fatigue, and nodded. "You are Jin, yes?"

He nodded in his usual solemn way.

"Come wit me." After starting into the house, Eseme looked back and added. "You not like what you see."

A feeling of worry crept over him as he was led through the store, into the woman's house and down a hallway. Finally Eseme pointed at a door, told him to "Go in." and then hastily walked around him and returned to her own room to finish the dream his knock had interrupted.

Jin opened the door to find; this. Mugen cuddling Fuu, her looking half dead, and a suspicious amount of cloths and blankets on the floor.

For a while now, Jin had come to think of Fuu as a younger sister. Someone he could play with, protect, and enjoy their company. So naturally upon seeing this girl unconscious, he became more than a little annoyed at Mugen. Obviously something was wrong with her. They were staying with a doctor after all. What had happened? Why?

"Explain. Now." He commanded, staring Mugen down with unusually chilling eyes.

Mugen looked at Fuu, then back at Jin with a defiant glare. "Outside." He shot back, his voice rough and hard. Despite this tone, he lay Fuu back on the Futon with a unknown gentleness, tossing a third covering over her before trudging out the room.

Jin followed him to the backyard, were they stood parallel to each other. As Mugen summed up the events of the past week and a half. Leaving out minor points, such as private moments between him and Fuu which did not need to be said.

"I kinda pissed her off, and then she ran away. Rufofo or whatever the hell his name was got her, then I kick his ass and got her back. But she kinda got poisoned, so she's recovering now. The old hag won't tell me if there's any more side effects." Shrugging in a relaxed manor as he concluded. "So that's it."

Jin waited a moment, collecting his thoughts and emotions. A minute of silence ticked slowly by, and just when Mugen was about to snap something sarcastic at him Jin brought his fist hard into the side of Mugen's face.

"Gah!" As Mugen flew backwards a few feet he felt his rage surfacing again. He hit the ground hard, just barely missing the flowers around the edges of the fence.

As Mugen bolted up again and charged at Jin with both fists ready, it was obvious the quiet day had only bottled up his natural energy and quick temper. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR YOUR BASTARD!"

The calm and steady Jin blocked his wild attacks easily, throwing another punch to the stomach when he got tired of dodging. "For being stupid."

Mugen growled at him, wiping some of the blood from the corner of his mouth. "What the hell do you know!"

"I know it is never acceptable to hold your feelings back from one who needs to see them." Jin answered coldly. He hadn't told Shino how he loved her before they were separated. And everyday since their parting he regretted that. Slowly, from the inside, his lingering feelings of love and guilt were consuming him. Like a beautiful disease.

This brought Mugen to a dead silence, he stared at the older man with somewhat eyes that appeared to be melting, and lost.

"You don't seem to understand that Fuu might die. Even if you and the doctor take care of her, there is always the possibility that this poison and antidote might kill her. Yet you speak of it as if it were of no large consequence to you. Do you truly--" "SHUT UP!" Mugen bellowed, cutting Jin off from his much needed lecture, as he tackled his rival to the ground.

Jin ended up grabbing both of Mugen's fists in his hands to keep his punches from connecting. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!"

The disciplined samurai kept his cool, struggling to throw the enraged man from him. Though he could have used his knees to give the younger man a swift kick in the groin, he didn't want to _hurt_ him. He just wanted Mugen to understand that what he was feeling wasn't something to be denied. But instead something treasured.

Mugen tried his hardest, but couldn't seem to overpower Jin. Pushing against his hands with everything he had, though he never got anywhere. How dare that Jin bastard insult him like that? Of course he cared! He hadn't eaten all day _because_ he cared. Normal people might not understand that, but it was a BIG FREAKIN DEAL.

As if on cue, a large growl emitted from the bottomless pit that was Mugen's stomach. Causing both samurai to pause and stare at the source.

Tactfully using this moment of pause and distraction, Jin threw Mugen off him with one forceful shove.

Mugen rolled to the side, and was about to lunge at Jin again when he felt a strong blow to his head. "What the hell!" He whipped around and saw Eseme through now faintly blurry vision, holding the top of his head as it throbbed painfully. She was obviously extremely angry, as she had never hit him that hard before.

"Tell me potty mouth….if you out here fighting wit Mr. Jin….Who is being watching Fuu!" She yelled this last part at him as loud as she could, swinging her cane at him once again with murderous intent. Revenge for waking her up with his own voice.

Reality slammed down hard on Mugen like a collapsing building engulfed in flames. Without a word to the other two occupants of the backyard, he was on his feet and running back inside. Though before he could get very far, Jin had him by the end of his red shirt. It was an almost comical site, and it should have been, if the situation was not so grave. "What the hell do you--" "Go get something to eat. I'll watch her."

"…" Mugen just stood there for a moment, staring at the samurai with empty eyes. "Whatever." Was his eventual response as he tore from the odd grip and leaped over the fence. Off to scrounge up food from some unsuspecting vendor in the market. 'Damn….if she wakes up while I'm gone I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch!'

Mugen remained in that hot-headed sense of mind as he walked down the one, long road that tore through the heart of the village like a life-giving artery. He pissed off at Jin, mostly for the fact that he had barging in on "their" time. It was almost a betrayed feeling. Now he had to share her, and sharing wasn't something he liked doing.

When Mugen came back, Jin was sitting against the wall—and much to his pleasure—far away from Fuu. Another thing which cheered him was that Fuu hadn't woken yet. It was an odd feeling, he realized. Wishing her to be well but to remain unconscious.

Pieces of rice still clung in his hair and one over his lip, speaking of the meager meal of rice he had scammed from one of the shop owners. As Mugen walked closer, he saw her foot twitching just a little bit under the covers. "Out." He ordered Jin as soon as he realized what this meant, like a quick reflex.

The smooth samurai opened one eye, picked up on the motion, and did as Mugen said. Simply leaving, he had been wanting a snack anyway.

Once Mugen was sure Jin was long gone, he knelt down next to Fuu's head. Watching like an egger child as her eyes twitched. Then, slowly fluttered open. Layers of black lashes spread apart their fortress to expose the beautiful brown pigment beneath.

Mugen could feel himself shaking, physically shaking, as her eyes moved around the room, then came to rest on him. It was his cue, his moment… _their _moment. "Hey…Fuu."

At first, Fuu wasn't really sure what was going on. Everything was still so blurry, everything still hurt just a little bit. Then, unexpectedly…it came; "Hey Fuu." Through the haze and pain she could see a familiar afro, welcomed red shirt, and scruffy face. "Mu….gen…" Her voice was small, pathetic and cracked. Just the kind of voice someone who had survived a serious poison and antidote combination should have.

She tried hard to smile for him, taking in his face from the distance of her futon on the floor. It was dirty, his face. Though there was nothing new in that. There was bits dried blood on his forehead, some still on his lip, dirt on his cheek and rice in random places. The sight of him amused her very much, but she was sad to find she couldn't express it the way she wanted to. Fuu tried moving her left arm, and the poor girl found that it was still very stiff. Though she did lifted it—with some effort and concentration. Attempting to reach his face, her pale and weak fingers could only graze his chin.

"Blood…." She breathed, motioning away a grain of rice from the stubble with the tip of her finger. Mugen's eyes widened, and he put a hand behind her head to lift her up. Cradling her once more. Like players on a stage re-enacting the scene from two chapters back, they sat there. His arms loosely around her, her hand on his head.

With this new assistance she was able to explore more of his face. Slowly caressing the dust from his skin with a quivering thumb as two great tears of joy came to her eyes. If there was blood, this meant they weren't dead.

Mugen just watched her in wonder. He could see the pain it was causing her, could see it in her eyes, but he didn't want her to stop. He wanted to know she was alive. That nothing would ever take her from him again. He returned this touch, reaching out—almost timidly—to banish the wetness from her pale cheeks.

It didn't take long for her meager amount of energy to run dry, and she had to remove her hand. Letting it fall heavily against her empty stomach. "Hey Fuu." He said again. The second time around there was strength in his voice, confidence even. He wanted to said it again. To let the simple syllables roll off his tongue like a special kind of sweat drink.

The girl smiled, and nudged softly into his chest with her aching head. Everything hurt, from her toe-nails to her ear drums everything hurt. But the pain seemed to dim, when she was in his arms.

"Hi…" She answered back as her eyes closed again. After just one little physical excursion, she felt so very tired. 'Gez how pathetic.' She thought to herself as she smiled and made one last effort to snuggle deeper into the wonderful mix of a firm chest and a soft clothing.

Eseme and Jin were listening on the other side of the wall, their ears pressed against the wood in hopes of catching drift of anything juicy. This was not a habit with either of the two, but this was a special and rare occasion. Also, it was the first time Jin had ever heard Mugen say Fuu's name.

1 yukata – a bath robe worn in the house, to the pool, in the bathroom.

Author time: lmao! Omg, I'ma share this review with you guys, cuz it just totally hit on something in the plot of this chapter. They submitted this like, maybe an HOUR after I finished typing in that part b/c it's been in my head for almost a month. I don't know how they did it, maybe physic abilities or something, but anyway take a look.

that was a great chapter. If anyone can save Foo It's Eseme. You really shouldnt have assured everyone in your AN that Fu would be allright :P Sure they may rant and scream at ya, but you know they would NEED to see the rest. Thanks for another update in my FAV champloo fic! Keep it up! **I was almost expecting Jin to show up outa nowhere** and help save the day, but no this is MU/FU's time

and, I know you all hate rambling, but here's another on. I'm so glad somebody caught this! See, I know it's uncharacteristic, but I wanted this awesome symbolic effect. The sword representing Mugen's old life of being a criminal and not giving a shit about anybody but himself. Which he leaves could eventually behind, because of Fuu.

only thing, Mugen would not run off and leave his sword behind when he stopped fighting to go find her in the dining room. It's his life.


	18. A lie untold

OO ooomg! I must make many thanks to all you readers, for—being a newbie to FN though I've been here!3YEARS! I didn't know about the Stats option. I mean, I see it every time I go to load a new doc., but I never knew what it was for. Lemme just replay to you….what the stats are for "Sand Isn't So Bad"

199 reviews!

17777 hits!

76 alerts!

I would like to recommend to you this story: Expect no sleep tonight. It should be on the 1st page of the romantic/mature section, and yes, it is indeed, a mufu. However! Keep in mind that this fic is not for the squeamish. If you are not a fan of intense sexual descriptions and crude talk…xD get the hell out of the mature section.

With all my elusive love—and yes I do mean elusive--, PaintBrush.

"Hm…" 'How can it be morning already? These rays was moonlight just a moment ago…' A very exhausted Neta struggled to open her eyes to the abundant streams of brilliant sunlight. Her head was pounding as a result of the meager three hours of sleep she had received during the night. Reluctantly she pushed herself up from the cold, hard, wooden floor. As the girl turned her head to the side and gazed over her shoulder, she saw the man who lay beside her with his eyes open. Obviously awake.

"Good morning." He mumbled to her in a voice cracked from mild pain, still watching her as she proceeded to stretch up her arms in attempts of waking herself further from the previous sleepy state.

Neta pulled up the edge of her kimono, returning it to it's rightful place on her shoulder. As she did so she couldn't help but smile a little. This was the second morning she had woken up beside the man she loved. Of course, in his wounded and weak state there was nothing sexual about it, but Neta had never looked for such things from Mechi.

Sitting now in the proper fashion, she lifted the bandage around his arm and shoulder to look at the wound. For the past two days she had watching it so attentively, so caringly, so lovingly, that not even the slightest sign of infection had the chance to surface.

Mechi continued to gaze upon her features, seeing her freely for perhaps the first time in many years. The pain wasn't so bad now, and his vision had re-gained most of it's clearness. Though despite this handicap, his eyes took in every detail, every expression, and every crease of worry on her pale forehead. Far too long, it had been far too long since he had last seen her face.

Sure, he saw her almost everyday—sometimes only once per week—whilst walking in the halls. But he made it a point never to look directly at her, to say her name, nothing that would give away her meaning something more than a servant to him. For her own safely, he just couldn't do that.

"Are you hungry?" Came the familiar question. Always asked in a kind and soft voice.

He just moved his head slightly in a small nod of 'no thank you'. "You should eat something." Mechi told her, his voice no longer shadowed by the constant act he had been putting on for the past ten years.

Neta's eyes always came dangerously close to watering over when she heard him use the voice she had missed so much. True, it had deepened just a bit from the voice she had formerly known, but at least it wasn't that horrible, mock-royal deep.

When the girl made no movement, Mechi sighed and turned his head away from her, closing his eyes once more. "You've barely eaten this whole time. Go."

Before Neta could even open her mouth to protest he interrupted with a slightly sharper version of his first: "Go."

Her legs shook from fatigue as she stood up and slowly walked away from the make-shift bed she placed him on two nights earlier. The farther she got, the more Neta's eyes clouded, and there was no trace of happiness in her features once again. It was almost like she had returned to her 'dead' state. 'He doesn't want me…He doesn't want me beside him.'

Those same black eyes grazed over the slightly tidier room, then stopped when she saw that horrid object. _That_ sword, the offensive blade which had stripped her Lord of the use of half his right arm. Subjecting him to such a state of weakness and dependency upon others. Mainly this dependency was for her, as most of the other servants made sure to keep a good distance from their master unless specifically called for. Though none of them dared leave. They knew all too well that such a wound would never render the Great Oppressor completely from his life's work. He was still a dangerous gang leader. None of them would ever forget that.

'I wonder if he will come back for it…' Neta wanted very much to go travel into the village. To step upon the soil she had missed so dearly. She could deliver Mugen's sword, and she could how Fuu was doing, see if she had survived the antidote and poison.

After Neta had left, and the sound of her bare feet padding gently on the wooden planks of the floor had disappeared, Rukono opened his eyes. Like his voice, the sinister wall he had purposefully placed wasn't hiding them anymore.

"I wonder if she'll be able to forgive me this time too…"

Jin sat with Eseme at the food stand, gratefully sipping a cup of hot tea. He had eaten very little on the trip up the mountain and down into the valley, so Ren's cooking was much welcomed.

"The tale is a bit more complex than Mugen told it, I am assuming. Would you care to explain the situation to me in more detail Miss Eseme?" He asked, looking over at her and away from his bowl of steaming ramen.

The older woman—now fully re-charged from her previous all-night vigil—looked up from her tea with her usual smile. This particular expression simply oozed a feeling of 'control over the situation'. Very fitting for her character and stronghold in the house that was now only her own. Unlike many of the women who crossed Jin's path, who heard the deep sound of his voice, and looked into the painstakingly black eyes—observed his gorgeous physic—Eseme did not fall under his charms.

Over a second round of dumplings Eseme rattled away about how the village had been plagued by Rukono's almost elite gang members and his will to control the activities of the helpless villagers.

"Hm. Did Mugen say anything about killing him?" Jin asked, looking deeply into the bottom of his tea cup.

Eseme shook her head, fumbling with the tight bun atop her head. "No. He un did not speak much to me at all."

"Mm….Yes. Mugen is indeed a man of few words."

"Un what he does say, is un either vulgar, sarcastic, or irrelevant to de point."

Both part-takers in the lunch nodded their heads in a synchronized movement.

As Mugen walked through the familiar forest his mind was filled with thoughts of food, sleep, Fuu, and the fact that he had been a large ass and left his sword behind. "Damn…fucking…shit of a no good fucker…." He grumbled. Angry with himself for being so stupid as to leave behind his only possession besides the lightly tattered cloths on his back.

Besides that, he was angry with himself for not telling Fuu the truth he had resolved to spill. Even though it was somewhat her fault, for falling asleep again so quickly. He sighed, and continued to trudge on through the gross underbrush and the sharp daggers of nature.

Since Mugen was not in any particular hurry, he was at his leisure to enjoy this calm walk. It being the first he had spent in that hellish valley. Thinking back on it, Mugen remembered that he hadn't finished the job. Rukono was still alive, still well able to plot and order his servants and gang members.

"Damn…" He was being foolish. Too foolish for his own liking. From that point on Mugen watch from the corner of his eyes, the front, and even from above when he could. Listening as if he were expecting some sort of great and wild beast to leap out upon him at any moment. Although there was no awkward silence, no deafening silence, and no nerve-racking silence, Mugen still kept a watchful eye and a strained ear. Granted, it was hard to hear over the noise of the birds, squirrels and other wild creatures, mixed harmoniously with the rustling of the brush, tree's and other shrubbery. Ah the sounds of the wild…how they pissed him off so.

A good hour's worth of cautious walking later and Mugen came face to face with the partially underground building that he hated so well. He grunted a little, remembering the things about it which made him hate the very floor plan.

The moment his sandaled foot touched down on the wooden planked ramp, Mugen had to quickly dodge an arrow shot. "Fuck!" This was not a good time to be without a weapon.

"You, hey you there! Come to finish off our boss?" Came the deep voice from a man dressed all in black, who was approaching Mugen from the right.

Mugen glared at the man, then changed his composure that so that he seemed not to give even the slightest rat's ass about the situation. "Ya know man, that damn color's really startin' to piss me off…"

The stranger seemed to puff out his chest in defense of his uniform. He remembered Mugen as the rebel from the gathering, and the intruder from a few nights past. Basically someone to be hated.

This just made Mugen roll his eyes. "Look bud, I'm not here to kill 'ol what's his name. I'm just gettin' my sword." As the scruffy samurai moved to take a second step the guard drew his own sword.

"Not on my watch, bastard." Came the nearly growled out words.

Mugen put his hands up, smiling in an definitely smug way. "Fine, if you wanna go get it then be my guest bud. Gez."

The man eyed Mugen suspiciously once more for good measure, then turned around and headed into the stronghold.

Mugen waited a good ten minutes before he started getting a tad bit suspicious about this whole thing. 'Damn…' He looked back over his shoulder a few times, making sure he remained aware of the direction the village lay in. There were three things currently on his mind. First, that when he embarked on this mission he promised himself he wouldn't be gone away from Fuu any longer than he had to. And it was getting slightly later than he would have liked.

Secondly, for being so stupid as to go without at least borrowing Jin's sword, as even a prissy-assed Samurai's sword would have been better than nothing.

Thirdly, he was wondering if it perhaps this was a trap, and if letting the guard leave to bring reinforcements was such a good idea.

However, before Mugen had any real time to examine these thoughts more deeply—loosing his temper in a most profound way and perhaps even yelling at some rocks—he felt something hard hit him in the face. "Ow! What the fuck!"

Mugen glared in the direction of this attack, only to be knocked down by a swift punch to his jaw.

"Now get the hell out! I should arrest you right now, but my Lord is still resting and gave no such order…" The guard growled through gritted teeth. Both Rukono and Mechi had been his close friends…and the mere presence of the man who had killed the younger and wounded the first was almost too much for his easily triggered anger.

Mugen grumbled something incomprehensible as he bent over and picked up his sword, his other hand rubbed away at the bruising jawbone. 'Bout time that son of a bitch got back…'

Without a second thought, Mugen turned and made his way back to the sunflower village. Every so often he would look back over his shoulder, just to make sure he wasn't being followed or ambushed. From personal experience, he knew better than to trust the words of a thief, murderer, or any member of a successful gang. Heck, sometimes he wasn't even sure to trust what _he _was saying.

After at least a half hour of this cautious traveling, Mugen looked up through the mass of tangled leaves and branches at the afternoon sun. It was later than he would have liked, but at least he got his sword back. "Wonder what Fuu's up to…" He pondered out loud, completely unaware of the little smile that graced his features when he spoke her name.

The girl in question, still weak from the poison, was lying in bed, not really asleep, but not really awake either. It had been like that a few hours already; ever since Jin and Eseme had left for lunch. Not even the energetic Momo seemed to be around.

Fuu sighed, turning her head ever so slightly to the left to face the empty room. "Mom…" In her blurry eyes she saw a brightly lit room—too bright almost—and a small vase of sunflowers just half an arm's length away. "Mom…" She called again. The scratchiness in her voice was clearly heard, and had anyone been currently occupying the doctor's modest home they would have gotten her some water for it.

'It hurts…' The muscles in her body were still aching with small waves of pain which came almost regularly, though they were gradually getting better. Slowly, steadily, they were going away. A mostly delusional Fuu did her best to sit up, and she looked around a room, which was not her own, for her mother.

After a few minutes, and several attempts to reach out and touch the non-existent sunflowers, Fuu's eyes swelled with tears. "That's right…Mom's dead." At last she gave up, letting her tired hand fall to the cool floor with a soft 'clunk'. The taunting sunflowers seemed to fade from her site as she admitted defeat, like they had been waiting for her to do just that.

'I wonder where everyone is…' She thought as she ran her kimono-covered arm across her eyes to wipe up the tears the didn't want to take credit for. Surely Jin and Eseme were back?

After various trial and error the poor girl managed to stand—though she was leaning greatly on the walls and rice doors—and wandered gingerly about the house for a good five minutes before confirming the supposed fact that she was alone. Yes, indeed, Fuu was once more; completely alone.

Fuu sighed again. She hadn't seen Mugen at all, not even the slightest sound that might indicate his presence. It was this absence which pulled most at her heart. The last thing she remembered of him was falling asleep with her head elevated by his arm, and her face pressed comfortingly into his hard, protective chest.

"Where are you?" She whimpered, pressing her pale forehead into the nearby wall with an almost depressed aura about her. A small, nearly insignificant memory came to mind just then. Fuu had been…god knows how young at the time, but had fallen under a short term spell of sickness. With only her mother's loving care as medicine. Every other day, the little girl knew she could look over and see a fresh grove of flowers in the small, blush-ish vase that lay by her futon pillow.

Feeling that she deserved at least one flower, Fuu straitened her cloths, grabbed one of Eseme's extra walking sticks, and headed towards the adoring fields to the north of the town. 'Hm, sturdy…' She thought as she tapped it a few times against the ground to make sure it would support her meager weight.

Barely a few houses away, and Fuu found that she was already out of breath. 'Man…this sucks…' She stopped a moment to lean against the wall of a shop, ignoring the strange looks and mockingly-silent murmurs from the passersby.

"Isn't she the-?" "Yeah, yeah you're right." "I thought she was dead!" "What do you think happened to that samurai fella?" "Maybe he's dead." "What if he's not?" "Then Ru…er…he is dead." "Shhh! Don't say that out loud!" "Yeah, who knows who's listening!"

These voices followed her as she got up and continued her quest. The longer she walked the more those voices slowly seemed to increase—though there did not appear to be any more people than there had been elsewhere. In fact, Fuu found that the closer she got to the sunflowers the less and less people there were. Until there was no a soul to be found.

Fuu looked up, a cold sweat was beginning to form across her brows, and she was out of breath but she smiled. "I…I can…I can see it…" It was her untimely misfortune, however, to loose most of her former energy just as she was but a few feet from the destination.

"D-damn it…" She moaned as she felt her legs start to give way. Tears already forming in her tired eyes from the cursed defeat. 'It just isn't fair.'…She thought as her knees hit the ground. It was a bit of a painful fall, as she was still sensitive from the poison, and since the ground was so rocky.

"Oy!" Came an angry, solitary voice from behind her. No sooner did Fuu hear this cry, did she feel something wrap around her waist and pull almost sharply upwards. "Mugen?" Fuu asked curiously, still breathing with difficulty as she turned around in his arms to look up at him.

The face he held now was not the one she expected at all. It was not what it had been yesterday, a look of quiet endearment, but instead, screamed of annoyance. "What the hell did you think you were doing?" Mugen asked, arching his neck so his face was close to Fuu's. Apparently he was trying to mentally smothering her.

His annoyance only increased when he heard her giggle. The lightly pink lips curled upwards as she did so, and her eyes seemed to sparkle. "What's your problem now? Did that fever go to your head or somethin'?"

Fuu shook her head no. In truth she couldn't account for a reason as to why she suddenly found herself in such a giggly mood. Perhaps he was right, and the exhaustion had gotten to her, or perhaps it was simply from seeing him.

Mugen sighed, excepting defeat…for the moment. "Feh. Either way, I gotta get ya back to the house. The old hag will have a fit that you're gone." For a moment he was reluctant to move her, as the feel of her petit body pressed into his was having a wonderful effect on him. Before he had a chance to act on this proposal he was interrupted by her.

"Wait!" She cried, looked up at him with a distraught expression which seemed to come from thin air, bringing a swift death to the smile and sparkle. At this sudden movement their faces were thrown into an even closer proximity than before, and the slight intensity of the moment increased.

"For what?" He asked in a somewhat raspy voice, his black eyes darting all about her face with an almost lusty quickness. Mugen smirked inwardly as the already pink cheeks became a darker shade.

"F-for my sunflower." She answered, becoming ever so slightly further aware that she was so close to Mugen that she could have counted each of the hairs of stubble on his chin.

Mugen raised an inquisitive and teasing eyebrow at this. "Your what?"

"My sunflower. When I got sick, mom always brought me sunflowers from our field. I just….missed it…I guess." Fuu's previous expression of desperation slowly melted itself into a guilty and somewhat reminiscent sadness as she said this. 'That's right…mom! I can't stay in this village too much longer. We have to get back to tracking down the sunflower samurai…'

'Damn…' The hard man's facial features came together to create a nearly un-readable expression. Now confused, Fuu looked into his eyes for some kind of explanation for this expression. What now? Did she say something that had upset him?

'Just when things were finally starting to get comfortable too…' Fuu sighed silently, her small grip on his red shirt tightened. "Mu-ah!" A soft call of his name immediately turned to a cry of surprise. As the elusive pirate had—at that moment—swept her up into his arms so passionately that her head bounced lightly into the side of his scared chest.

"Mugen?" She spoke his name again, this time triumphant in speaking it fully. His actions were strange, and seemed stranger still as he burst into the rows and rows of towering, yellow giants.

He didn't say a word to her as he trudged about in the field, seeming to have no idea where he was going, yet having a very important place to go.

Fuu gave up hope of a response after a few minutes and simply took to resting as he cradled her like a newly-wed bride. She smiled with content as she nuzzled into the warmth and hardness of his shoulder.

"Here." A while later she was woken from her sleepy state—having remembered her own exhaustion—by Mugen's grumble of the word, and Fuu looked about to see what he had finally come to find.

Pulling away from him a little, Fuu now put her arm along his shoulder and looked around. "Um…where are we?" She looked this way and that, but could see no end to the sea of green and yellow.

Mugen sat down on the ground with his legs crossed like a pretzel. After doing this, he set the seemingly befuddled Fuu down upon his lap—while still keeping a grip on her back and shoulders. It seemed like he was having a slight trouble breathing, like there was something troubling him.

Fuu waited—a little impatiently—for him to figure out what he wanted to say or do. She amused herself by playing gently with the short hairs on the back of his neck. For what she could see, this caressing touch had no effect on him. Very unusual for the Mugen she knew. 'Wow…He really is thinking, isn't he?' She thought in wonder, knowing that normally he would have growled at her for this. The innocent girl stared up at the lazy eyed samurai.

More time passed, and Fuu was just about to lay her head back down on his chest when he finally spoke. "Alright you." He started, arching his neck so that he could stare into her eyes with an almost vicious intensity. "Listen and listen good cuz I ain't gunna tell ya this again. I'm never gunna be your ideal guy. So don't expect it. I don't know about, about sick flowers, or gift givin', and crap like that." "Bu-" "And I ain't in the habit of doing that hand holding thing." "Wa-" "Oh! And don't even think about askin' me to brush my hair, or shave or any of that prisy st-" "Mugen!" "What!"

Fuu's constant attempt to interrupt him had slowly gotten on his nerves, and he bellowed at her for it now. All sentiment banished from his eyes where there had previously been a small glimmer of the stuff.

She smiled sympathetically at him, her eyebrows drawn downward with an almost pitiful effect. "But Mugen, I lo-like you just the way you are." Fuu blushed, realizing she didn't have the courage to admit to him her love.

For a moment, Mugen thought he had heard wrong. How could she possibly have said that? If she did, how could she mean that? Him, with no name, no money, no hope for improvement… "What did you say?"

Her arms had started shaking again, she could feel the fatigue in her legs, torso, feet; everywhere. Fuu knew her eyes were drooping too, and she was beginning to have a hard time ignoring the hunger pains from nearly two feverish days without food. But she continued to smile, a little one, but a smile non the less. "I like you just the way you are." Fuu repeated, shifting slightly in his arms so she could put hers down and fold her hands in her lap.

Mugen did his absolute best to hide the disbelief, gratitude, and love with annoyance. He raised an untidy eyebrow at her. "Oh so you wouldn't mind if I was more like Jiny-boy?"

Fuu looked up at the sky like she was daydreaming, an act of course. "Weeell, I guess it wouldn't hurt if you didn't yell at me as much, or call me names, or took baths."

"Ah-ha! So you lie!" Mugen knew it was useless to argue with her about those things, she had a point after all. 'Except the bath one. No fucking baths for me.'

Before Fuu could explain the flustered face she had come to have after he spoke these words, Mugen closed the distance between their heads and kissed her forehead softly. "Thank you." He breathed in a mumbled, low and quiet voice into her hair.

"Huh?" The poor, confused girl looked up as far as her eyebrows would let her, but all she could see was the hard man's throat and a bit of his chin. The rest was hidden from her. 'His eyes…I want to see the look in his eyes.'

Fuu knew Mugen all too well to believe that he would kiss her with any kind of affection unless for two reasons: The first, that he was merely playing a cruel joke on her. And second, if she had just won a very large sum of money at a betting ring or dice roll. Neither of which had ever happened. In fact this was the first time his lips had ever touched her in any way, so she was nearly thrown into a strange sort of shock. A heavy blush graced her cheeks, though it was just a simple kiss.

"Thank you for liking me."

As his arms snaked their way around her shoulders to pull her into him, Fuu remembered the hard, cruel life Mugen had suffered. The treacherous betrayal of the two people in the world who were suppose to be his friends. The general prejudice of all around him, simply for his birth into the bottom of the social food-chain. Her eyes filled with tears, mostly from their own tiredness, but also for him, as she was welcomed into the warmth of his embrace.

Fuu brought her arms around his waist, holding him in return. "Yeah, no problem." She almost whispered, not really sure what to do with this Mugen. Would he suddenly snap at her? Yell at her? Would he…kiss her? Spill his life's secrets? There was no way to tell.

"You're scared aren't you?" He asked a moment later, annoyance heavy in his voice. She had started shivering, and he thought maybe it was from his embrace.

"Hm? Of what?" She asked through a yawn as she nuzzled her head a little closer into him chest.

It was then that Mugen remembered her condition. 'God fucking damn it!' While screaming obscenities at himself through his thoughts—something he seemed to do a lot as of late—Mugen carefully pried the girl from her hold far enough to put a rough hand on her head. "Shit! That bastard of a fever is back…"

Fuu looked at her samurai from under heavy eyelashes. It was getting really hard to stay awake. Though she had a good idea of what would happen if she did. Mugen would freak out further, and most likely try to wake her again in a hurry.

On the long walk back to the old doctor's home, the two became engulfed by silence once more. Though it was not a painful one, Mugen still felt the need to break it.

"I lied, ya know."

Her hear tightened with fear as Fuu opened her eyes again, a little more awake than she had been a few seconds ago. "About what?"

Mugen shifted her in his arms slightly, more to have something to do with her than for any other reason. "You asked me if I meant what I said, that first night…"

Suddenly Fuu's heart let go of it's grip, and instead started beating like crazy. How? How could so few words produce such drastic effects on her?

"An I told you I didnmf" Mugen's words were lost, as was his walk's pace, as Fuu took his lips in her own. Kissing him without thinking the idea through, without contemplating the result, without taking the time to wonder whether or not he would like it. She cared for none of this. All she cared about was this; her moment, _their_ moment had been real. That lingering feeling of his embrace was real, not just some figment of her imagination trying to torture her mind. For all the times their bodies had touched since then, that had been the very first.

It took the rough man a moment to register her actions, to come to a complete stop and kiss her back. The stipple on his chin brushing against the silk-like feel of her's made a wonderful ying-yang that enticed him and made him crave more.

The sensation was brief, however; as Mugen soon felt her lips slip—not from her own conscious will. Fuu's body had finally reached its peak for endurance, and she fainted as a result of it.

"Damn…"

Weeeeell since I'm doing a tribute thingy to reviews, lol here's one now:

I remember a while ago—back before this was one of those fanfics with 100+ reviews—

((I love you all for that btw!)) someone made a comment about how I spent too much time describing Fuu's bath—like the pervert I am ---- --than going into Neta's or Mechi's character. Well that silly little reviewer obvious couldn't read minds, ya see, I was saving that for this:


	19. Confessions of the unexperianced

Very sorry to those of you who read the first draft of this chapter. I realized how much of a disappointment it must have been, and re-reading it almost nauseated me. So here is a re-vision, I think I'm finally satisfied with it.

A few days past since the incident in the fields, and the foursome was sitting around Eseme's fireplace. It was a cozy scene, with all of them holding or sipping tea, and the remainder of Eseme's home cooked meal at their feet. It was a rare, yet well worth it, event. A fully recovered Fuu sat in Mugen's lap, her head rested on his shoulder comfortably, and his right arm around her waist. The two had been like this on and off since the day before, after they finally got over the first few hills and valleys of a newborn relationship. Though this public snuggle was more of Mugen's need for assurance that she wasn't going to tip over and hit her head or become too cold. Obviously the over protectiveness still lingered in his system.

"So, I suspecting the three of you are going to be un leaving soon. Which is why I go to trouble of cooking." Eseme said, striking up her pipe, sliding in a subtle compliment to her efforts.

Fuu put down her bowl, now emptied of it's fourth helping and looked at the woman with eyes that twinkled with well hidden suspense. "Um, Eseme, I don't wanna sound rude but…you said you'd tell me about the sunflower Samurai if we took out Rukono."

Eseme looked Fuu directly in the eyes and took a few quick puffs from her friendly tobacco pipe. "Fuu girlie, my dear…I feel dat I have cheated you. For all dat you un Mugen boy have been through, as well as poor Jin for working in crummy restaurant, I feel dis information is not enough." She let her sentence fall there, partly for her own reasons but partly to play with the moment.

Fuu's eyes widened, gleaming almost, now with anticipation. The elderly woman's discouraging words had no effect on her and in fact, Fuu scooted out of Mugen's warm embrace to kneel before her friend and place her young hands over the withered pair. Giving her a silent encouragement to continue. "It's ok, just please, tell me?"

Eseme put down her pipe, letting the aroma wafer into the air of her living room as the smoke slithered from the embers in the opening. "Well, about eleven years ago, when de sunflower business was un booming, and Rukono had no charge over de town, every so often a man would come and buy seeds. He was tall, and a samurai—so said his swords. Easily un recognized by the pink scabbard of a small dagger."

Her enthusiasm flourished. "That's him!" Fuu even produced the small knife from inside her kimono just for Eseme to see. Eseme looked at the Katana, at the same time running a nimble finger over the edge. "Yes, de girlish weapon is unmistakable."

Mugen snickered at the term and received a swift kick from Fuu before becoming invisible again. "What happened? When was the last time he was here?"

Eseme's eyes turned to the ceiling, like she was remembering a distant past. "I don't remember de details…but it was sometime during his third visit. I know, because he took four people wit him."

Fuu's eyes widened. "Four people?" "Was it some sort of kidnapping?" Jin asked, looking up from his sip of tea.

"No, no. Un nothing like dat. It was a family, un when he was here de Samurai would stay at their house. That day, they all said: 'goodbye' un left wit him down the pass towards de sea. All our shipments come in from der." She sighed, then smiled. "If I was you, I would take dat root un see what you find. Other den that I can offer you no help."

She shook her head in protest. "No, it's a great help Eseme. Every little bit of information helps."

The old woman smiled in quiet relief. "Good then. I'm glad."

Mugen let a huff out from the side of his mouth, a little hurt that Fuu had chosen Eseme over him. Even for a little bit. This was to be expected, Mugen had always been the territorial type.

"So, now that we have this knowledge we should be getting on our way soon." Jin looked to Fuu, his well trained eyes seeming to scan her for the slightest sign of fatigue as he did so. "Eseme said that you were well. But are you feeling up to traveling again?"

Fuu looked at the floor, something thoughtful glittered in her brown eyes. The truth was, she had gotten so use to being with Eseme. Sleeping in a bed, living in a house, working for her keep. 'Mom…' It brought an itchy feeling to her stomach, thinking about leaving that kind of security.

Mugen turned his head to look at each of the room's occupants, rotating angles so he could see each of them one at a time. Fuu, Eseme, Jin, Fuu, Eseme, Jin. There seemed to be some kind of atmosphere he wasn't aware of, something his brain just wasn't catching on to. Naturally, this bugged the hell out of him. Finally he could take it no longer and stood up. Stomping his foot down on the wooden planks that made up the floor so that the abandoned dinner plates jumped a few centimeters and came down with a soft 'jingle'. "Oy! Enough of this!" He growled ferociously, looking down at the people look up at him. In an almost violent action he scooped his hands under Fuu's arms and brought her up to him, his arms suddenly crossed over her chest. "I'm threw waitin' around! We're leaving tomorrow no matter what shit happens because I'm gunna take care of her! Got it!"

Fuu blushed, a little too stunned and embarrassed to move or try to struggle from the odd embrace. Then, like a knife piercing through the thick awkwardness Eseme laughed. It was a cheerful, aged laugh, yet still held a kind of power and need for respect. "I un agree."

Jin just smiled.

Later that night when the morning and the evening were equally far away Fuu lay under the warm covers of the fluffy blanket spread over her futon. Though she was sure that the rest of the house was deep in their dreams, she was wide awake. The smothering rectangle of cotton covered most of her face and would have hidden it all if not for her need to breath. Fuu sighed. She was lonely and confused…torn between two things. "Mom…" She still needed her revenge, she couldn't abandon the memories of her mother. That was clear, and unforgettable. So, why didn't she want to leave?

So lost in her own thoughts, Fuu didn't hear someone open her door and walk towards her until their hand touched her shoulder. She nearly screamed, but found it impossible with his lips as a barrier. She seemed to melt into that kiss. Fuu would have been more concerned, if the midnight stranger's scent hadn't given away their identity. She recognized the natural musk, the slight smell of the un bathed, mixed with the lingering perfume of the soap from the last washing, all these things made up Mugen's scent. Wrapping her arms around him, Fuu pulled the vagrant in tighter. She needed this, needed to take her thoughts away from the unnecessary. A perfect distraction, her Mugen.

He smirked against the kiss, noticing how quickly she responded to him, and in turn took her into his arms. This was the first of their nightly encounters, and Mugen wasn't sure what to expect from Fuu. She being an unmistakable virgin and he...well, an experienced dancer of the mattress mambo. Though Mugen found it odd that he wasn't pressing too hard for sex. Perhaps it was some kind of sentimental crap his subconscious was trying to pull, or perhaps it was simply not the right night.

She broke away from him when her lungs screamed for air, breathing hard as she leaned against him. The two were now in a sitting position, the blanket that had been covering Fuu just a moment before lay forgotten on the floor.

Mugen tilted his head, staring down at the brown top of hair. It was down, like he had become accustom to seeing every so often. "Oy, what's got you stirred up?" He had known, ever since dinner he had known that something troubling was on her mind. 'Annoying…' Why couldn't she just tell him these kinds of things? 'Makin' me fish for it.'

"I-it's nothing. Really, don't ask." She nudged against him lightly with her head, but with arms loosely around his waist like she was indifferent to the touch. Reminding them both that she didn't need to be comforted, just distracted.

The sneaky pirate shrugged, then casually pulled down the left side of her yukata. Exposing the gracious white skin of Fuu's shoulder. "It's either talk or sex, pick one."

Fuu's face lit aflame with an embarrassed blush. "Jerk!" She yelled, pushing him away, then turned her back to him…without doing anything about the loose shoulder. 'Damn him…giving me an ultimatum like that…' Her fists trembled with rage from their place in her lap.

Mugen almost smiled at how easily she could be stirred up. A classic battle that was not unfamiliar to them: stubbornness vs. his. He closed the distance again, wrapping his arms tightly around her body from behind. "Eh? So which one you sayin' no to?"

"Both." She hissed, remembering to be quiet this time. If Jin or Eseme knew that Mugen was in her room that this hour…

"Cold bitch ain'tcha?." Interested in what her reaction would be, and also…a little 'stirred' himself, Mugen took the tip of her ear captive. Nibbling lightly at it.

She shivered, drawing in a breath to keep herself from making in another kind of noise.

"Choose, or I'll choose for you." Mugen said roughly as he moved down her ear to the lob.

"F-f-fine." Fuu tipped her head away from his mouth, releasing her ear from the pleasures of torture. She turned in his arms, but couldn't bring herself to look at him. "It's nothing that important…just…well…I've kinda gotten use to this place, you know? It's been a long time since I've had a place to call home."

Mugen sighed, reaching up with one had to absently scratch his head. He had had a feeling it would be something like that. "Gees. I'll never know what the hell it is with women and homes."

Fuu tilted her head lightly and looked up at Mugen, her expression was one that required sympathy. Not asked for, required. Pain spiked through his heart, and his grip tightened on her as he took her down among the blankets once more. Hitting the ground with a soft kind of 'thunk'. "Mugen!" Fuu cried in a whispered panic as he turned over so that she lay on top of him instead of at his side. She struggled a little, but Mugen had a crushing grip on her torso. "Let go." She wined, pounding a fist against his shoulder. After a few minutes she realized that didn't have to fight to keep her cloths on. Mugen simply lay there, not at all bothered by her small weight on his chest. "Mugen?" Her voice had quieted again after being raised to sound threatening.

"Shut up…" He mumbled, not bothering to check his voice's volume. Whether Jin and Eseme knew about them or not wasn't important at the moment. 'Someday…' He growled angrily inside his own head. '…someday she'll have a home again...'

Her heart was beating heavily against her chest, and it was hard to get it to slow down. For at least another hour she just lay there, listening to the calm beat of his. Eventually the soft rhythm of his breathing told her that he was asleep. Fuu sighed quietly, then tried to do the same herself. How could a gesture so small, make her feel better? "Mugen…"

The next morning proceeded as usual. Jin and then Eseme were the first ones to rise, followed a few hours later by Fuu and Mugen. Neither of the more responsible two said anything about how their younger counterparts came out from the same room, at the same basic time. Mugen and Fuu simply sat down at the table, joining their friends who had finished breakfast more than a few minutes before. Fuu took up her serving of white rice, too groggy to be aware of how Mugen's thigh was pressed against hers.

Mugen, however, was completely ware. In fact, he did it purposefully. He couldn't help it, the animal in him was hard to control after seeing her sleeping so calmly…on his chest! The rough man remembered it perfectly, the image was still fresh in his mind. Her lips had been parted slightly, just barely giving way to the delicate pink of her tongue.. Hair ruffled into a feathery poof tilted on the top—which was still in place as she ate—and her yukata falling revealingly over her shoulders.

His lustful thoughts were disturbed by the droning voice of the house owner. "So, you three will be un leaving today?"

"Yes, I believe that was the plan we discussed last night." Jin answered in a routinely collected voice. Though his mind wasn't completely concentrated on the conversation. This was how he woke up now, a little out of it, dreamy, and more hopeful than was healthy. Nearly every night in a row for the past few months, Shino had haunted his dreams. Bewitching and torturing him in his sleep. The well trained samurai couldn't shrug off the haziness he rose with each morning because of this.

"So what time we ditchin' this place?" Mugen asked through half a mouthful of rice. "How's after breakfast sound?" Fuu asked cheerily, her smile taking the focal point away from the odd number of grains which clung to the sides of her mouth.

The rough man noticed this small error and bumped the rice away with his index finger. "Whatever."

However it was more than a few hours before the seemingly inseparable threesome was on their way and out of Eseme's house. The old lady was walking them to the end of the village where they could head directly to the ocean and the seaport and continue their journey.

"Wow, everybody's so…lively." Fuu commented, her hair bouncing along as she walked—it had been put up into its regular style only a few minutes before. It was true, ever since word had gotten out that Rukono was defenseless—minus his body guards and other various hired thugs who remained because of their paychecks—the town seemed to spring back to life. Like a delicate annual plant that had been waiting for the winter to be over. Children, women, men, elderly, all ran about in the streets like it was a festival day. Those who had been 'hired' had all escaped to their homes and were shown the warm welcomes they deserved after their time of unfair employment.

"You are right." It made Eseme glow with happiness to see the town like this again, to see her town like this again. People weren't afraid to be loud, to be happy. They just…were. Simply existing in a rediscovered peace. As the four hikers came to the end of the line of side-walk shops they saw a sign in the distance. The word 'Sunflower' was etched into the wood, and the faded black paint in the etchings gave it a wonderful retro look.

"Dis is it, just go un down the trail, and you can un smell de ocean before you see it." The old lady sighed as she looked over the three youngsters. Even the recently coming Jin and found a special place in her heart—mostly because she had already heard a lot about him from Fuu. "I wish there was un something else I could do for you Fuu girlie, you too potty mouth."

Fuu just smiled. "It's alright Eseme, really. I'm just so happy about the tip." "Perhaps there is something I can do." An unfamiliar voice cut into the teary parting like a soft flow of liquid silk down stairs. Everyone turned their heads to the right to discover the speaker. There stood a pair of horses, both were pure black. Riding the first was none other than Rukono, and a very happy looking Neta. She had her arms around him, keeping him from falling over—only because he didn't have the heart to tell her that he didn't need it—and was in a state of bliss. Mugen and Jin drew their swords, holding them out and taking a step in front of the women. Fuu took a step back, her hands crossing over her chest in defense. Eseme was the only one who stood completely still, her old eyes watered with tears. "Neta!" She cried, charging through the male barrier to run towards her lost daughter.

"Eseme!" The girl answered back, her eyes wetting as well, and a subtle blush took her cheeks. Neta started to remove her hands from Mechi's chest, then stopped in mid-action after realizing her potential error. The young man cocked his head at her slightly. "It's ok. Go ahead." With his remaining arm he took her hand and gently helped her down. Their fingers lingered, overlapped slightly, for a moment, before Neta pulled away and ran to the old woman who had raised her and wrapped her arms around the small European bundle.

"Hey! Hag! What do you think your doing? You're gunna--" Mugen was silenced by Fuu grabbing his arm, wrapping both of hers around him. "What's your problem?" He asked, somewhat quietly. A slight wrinkle of his nose displaying his displeasure. Fuu just smiled happily, and shook her head in an added effect of 'no'.

Jin looked at the young woman out of the corner of his eye, seeing her efforts to keep violence at a minimum. He closed his eyes and put the blade back in it's home, standing alert, but looking relaxed.

"Neta...Oh girlie you grew so beautifully..." Eseme pulled back from the loving embrace, cupping her adopted daughter's cheeks in her wrinkled hands. "Ten years...Oh ten years is too long..."

The younger of the two was choking on a laugh and sob. "Y-yes, it really is, isn't it?"

Mechi gazed at the two through his unruly bangs. His hair, no longer plastered to his head and tied up with a ponytail, lay lazily around his ears. Stopping at his jaw. This, combined with the deep sadness of his eyes, made him gorgeous.

Mugen raised an eyebrow at the man. 'Feh...Damn bastard...' "So, ass-hole, you were sayin' something about helpin' us out?" Even he was smart enough to figure out why the ex-gang lord was leading a second horse with no rider.

The well groomed man looked down at Mugen, trying not to give away the respect he had acquired for him. "Yes. I know it will not undo the pain I have inflicted and the trouble I have caused, but Fuu may ride it down the mountain incase she is still unwell. Also, when you get to the dock you can sell it for a large sum of money, if the idea suits you."

"That's very generous..." Jin added, not bothering to keep the suspicion out of his voice. Mechi dropped his head a little, staring instead into the horse's mane as it tossed it's head in protest to standing still so long.

Before he could say anything Neta came to his rescue. "He just wanted to try and set things right again." "You think giving people presents with the money you took from them with help!" Mugen commented.

"It's a start." He answered plainly, like he had given the whole idea a great deal of thought. Which, he had in fact, done. In all the time he had to spend lying on the floor in utter agony, be began to think about Neta and his brother, and then started seeing every villager with their faces. Eventually Eseme and Bahck popped into the equation. Though mostly, it had been Neta's tears that plunged through him sharper even than his enemies' sword. Dragging dangerous nails of guilt over the delicate muscles of his heart. His pain delusional brain made the connection that he had been hurting all of them.

"Eh, you're going to pay boyo..." Eseme broke away from Neta and swung her cane hard over Mechi's head. Then smiled as he cringed and reached up to rub the throbbing bump. "...but we get over it eventually."

Neta smiled in relief, then turned to Fuu and bowed. Only to be hugged a second later and before she could squeeze in an apology. "It was great to meet you, Fuu. Do you really have to leave?" "Yeah...I'm sorry...but I still need to find the Samurai who smells of sunflowers." The slightly older woman just smiled and nodded. "Good luck, I hope you'll come back someday and see the village in 'full bloom'."

"I hope so too."

Mugen gagged at the sentiment of it all..

They had been on the road for half a day, and had taken Rukono up on his offer of the horse. This pathway was tame, smooth, and much easier to climb than the previous one, so the group didn't have much difficulty. Fuu also refused to ride the horse for most of the way, saying that it was alright carrying the food Ren had sent along with them.

"Lets stop here." Jin said suddenly, putting down a sandaled foot on the piece of land as if claiming it as his own. "Why?" "Whatever." Came the usual responses from his two comrades. He ignored both and took a slight detour out into the forest.

As the group settled down in their chosen camp site, the horse tied to a tree just a few feet away where it could graze on a small patch of grass, the fire in the middle and the three around it, Fuu brought out some of the ready-to-eat food packed by Ren. Each traveler had a small lunchbox to call their own, equip with noodles or rice and a few smoked meats and pickled vegetables.

Momo, the always loved pet, stuck his furry head out of Fuu's kimono as he heard the cackling of a fire. Having come to associate fire with food, the little squirrel looked around anxiously. His owner laughed gently and dipped an udon noble in front of his face so he could take it.

Mugen growled slightly as she did this, scowling at how Momo simply slurped up the piece of food. "Damn it, stop wasting our food on that rat." It appeared that the stand still between Mugen and Momo had been dismissed. "Chir chir chir!" Momo answered back, nearly growling at the scruffy man in his own squirrelly way.

Fuu just shook her head, sighing with hidden contentment. "Looks like things are back to normal." "It appears that way." Jin replied, most of his attention was on his food instead of his comrades and their pet problems. It was, after all, only natural. Nothing was new…nothing had changed.

It was later that night and Fuu was just starting to get comfortable—a root had been causing a terrible distraction to her sleep—when she felt someone take her hand. 'Mugen?' Jin had long since been asleep, she knew this because of the sound of a light snore coming from his side of the triangle they had formed around the fire, so she did not wish to wake him by calling out. This person pulled her up and led her deeper into the forest, farther away from camp.

"Mugen?" She asked out loud finally. "Who else?" Came the slightly ruff and hurried reply. They forged on, further into the deep forest, into the dark night that surrounded them. Almost suffocated them with it's silence. Mugen finally allowed a stop in front of a large tree that only visible by the scarce moonlight.

Its branches were long, slender, and covered in leaves.

There he wiped around and kissed her hard. Lips pressed against lips in a delicious act of smothering. She didn't resist, couldn't resist but kissed him back, arms falling limp at her sides from the effect it all. Fuu felt his hand—not just the one on hers but the other too—slide up her arm. Then bunch material in a tight fist as they worked their way to her back. When she found use of her limbs once more her hands shot up and entangled themselves in his hair. Fuu found definition in her composure as well, she was able to kiss him back now. To return, at least partly, the sensations he had flooded into her.

Mugen's hands found their way from her back to her sides, torturing them for just a second with the teasing touch before he returned them to her back. With a sharp tug he pulled Fuu as close as they could be with their cloths still intact. The force from it, the unintended force, send them against the tree.

The bark was soft, not scratchy, or unpleasant, as one would expect from a tree.

His mouth ravished hers, occasionally slipping—intentionally—to the side of her mouth where he could nibble at her bottom lip without difficulty. So with what little sanity she had Fuu studied what he did, how Mugen used his tongue, teeth, and lips to send her into such a hazy state. And she mimicked them, increasing what she could, removing what she didn't consider feminine.

'Damn…' Mugen felt his legs start to go, could tell hers were too as she was leaning heavily on him now, from the momentum of the moment. Slowly, they slid down into the collective forest carpet of leaves and twigs and moss. Still, they pressed for more, asked more of the other yet gave as much.

Above them the limbs of the tree were spread out invitingly, like welcoming arms, open to all no matter who or what they came from.

Both parties were breathing heavily, trying to make up for the lack of air. Neither had kept track, or time, or cared to do so. It could have been an hour it could have been fives minutes, yet no one would ever know except the woodland nocturnals. "Damn…Who knew you were good at that kinda shit?" To Mugen, nothing had ever been as sensual as this. Nothing had ever meant as much as that seemingly endless kiss had. It was the simple collection of raging emotion, of tender, yet scorching contact.

Fuu smiled widely, liking the lingering taste of Mugen on her tongue, the lingering feeling of his lips, of the pathetic stubble which verged on a mustache. In the early stages of a relationship one of the quiet little pleasures one may take in it is counting how many kisses you share with your partner. Overtime the counter usually looses their concentration and the number falls into the dark of their memory where nothing can be retrieved. 'That makes four light kisses, and one really hot one…' Fuu thought happily as she played with the afro-like hair. 'Maybe now's the best time to tell him.' The idea suddenly popped into her head, which was odd, with him running his hands up and down her arms like that she shouldn't have been able to think of anything.

"Hey, Mugen?" "What?" He mumbled as he tilted his head to kiss her neck, sending her into shivers of pleasure that nearly disrupted her thought process. "Um…well, this whole thing. With Mechi--" "You're calling him Mechi now? I thought only that chick did it." Fuu pressed onward despite the interruption "Well it's just out of a…hey! No, don't do that." Fuu scowled at Mugen when she realized he had interrupted her _again_! "Sorry." He shrugged, pausing to look at her a moment before resuming his course down her shoulder. 'Well, at least he apologized…' "Believe it or not this is serious." "Then it can wait 'till morning?" He asked lifting his head to kiss her mouth again. However, his lips collided with air, as Fuu ducked away from it. "No! Common Mugen…"

Mugen clearly saw the need in her eyes, the pain from this torture he was putting her through. He wanted that to go away, to know he wasn't the source of her pain, but on the other hand…he had intended to spend the night in hot steamy, sexual play. Not touchy-feely talk. He hadn't gone _that_ soft. On the other hand…it was just tearing at him, the face she was making, the slight whine in her voice. "Fine. Say it." He gave in to defeat with a sigh hinting of disgust.

Fuu winced at the tone, but carried on. "Like I was gunna say, that whole thing is a bit of a blur for me. Being prisoner, and a little before that. Though…I remember one thing, it came to me a few nights ago, and, it's been killing me ever since." She looked up at her scruffy samurai, apology written all over her features. "I don't hate you Mugen. I know I said I did, and I can't really even remember why, but…I didn't mean it. I really, really didn't mean it."

It was Mugen's turn to change expressions, before he had looked thoroughly annoyed, and now…he looked just as guilty as she did. "I had it comin'. It ain't your fault." She shook her head in protest. "I shouldn't have said anything like that, because…because…it's exactly the opposite of how I feel…" At this Mugen raised an eyebrow, and his heart started to pound even harder against his chest. The opposite of hate…the light in the darkness, the sweet in the sour, the soft amidst the scars…love.

"I tried to tell you, that night you came to rescue me. But you just interrupted." Fuu laughed nervously. "'Told you you'd do something like that someday."

That moment flashed painfully in his memory.

_Fuu's eyes were glazing over, and she was finding it hard to concentrate on anything. It was now or never. She had to tell him right now or loose her chance forever. The girl could feel in her bones that she was going to die. "Mugen…I…I lo--" "Shut up!…"_

He hadn't really paid any attention to what she was saying, his adrenaline was still on a high and his nerves were at their ends seeing that she could die at any moment…but how could he have missed that? That one crucial fact. This meant…she loved him back?

He quickly wrapped his arms around her, digging his fingers into her freed hair. Not caring if he suffocated her by pressing too hard. Mugen didn't want Fuu to escape, to disappear and confirm the moment to be a figment of cruel imagination. He never thought that he, the heartless, commitment free pirate of Japan, would ever need such reassurance.

"M-Mugen.." Fuu's cheeks flushed a bright pink. "I love you." She confessed in an whisper. "Say it again." He commanded, loving the warmth that flowed up and down his body as she said those three tiny words. "I love you." This time Fuu said it louder, more confidence in her voice now that she had said it once before. "Again." She laughed. "It's your turn."

Mugen lifted his head and looked strait into her eyes, brown overlapping black as he stared at her with a relaxed yet passionate expression. "I love you too." Seconds after he said this, Mugen came to the realization that he had never uttered such words out loud before. Not to anyone, not to anything. Yet here he was admitting it to the girl he who was suppose to annoy him above all else. He was giving his heart, open, delicate, unfamiliar with the traits of love. Out in the wide open where it could easily be stepped on and torn apart like a defenseless infant. 'Nah, she'll take good care of it.' Said the little voice in his head that had for so long been silent. Mugen leaned in and kissed Fuu's chin, then her nose, and finally her forehead. Hearing the confirmation, returning it's meaning and equal, had for some reason soothed his appetite. He no longer wanted to pursue any kind of sex, at least not that night. No, it needed to be perfect. Her first time, and his first time with someone he loved. "We should be getting' back before Jini-boy realizes we're gone and throws a hissy fit." "K." At the moment that sounded like the best idea. If they stayed alone like this for too much longer, Fuu might not have been willing to stop him if Mugen started pulling moves on her, and she was intending to keep her virginity for at least a while longer.

The next day the threesome found themselves nearing a harbor. The smell of the ocean came to them before the view did. Fuu stuck her nose into the air and smiled contently. It was a gorgeous day, and she was in love. In love with someone who loved her back. The horse nuzzled lightly at her shoulder, blowing a breath of air from it's nose to remind her to keep walking strait. As she had nearly walked into a tree, eyes clouded by her daydream.

"Oy, be more careful will ya?" Mugen put in, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. His expression mild, exterior cool…but on the inside he was warm, and nearly bouncing with joy.

Jin just sighed and smiled with a knowing happiness, he had been tempted to follow them the night before, but had stopped himself out of courtesy for Fuu. Despite this, he was sure that they had confessed, without a doubt he believed it. 'Shino…' If only they could have been like that. If only he had told her he loved her. As Jin thought of this he didn't even notice that the ground he was walking on had turned into a soft, slightly damp sand. "Hm?" He lifted a foot, noticing the thin layer that clung to the bottom of his sandal. Turning his head slightly to the left he saw that the towering mountains continued on, creating a sharp and nearly vertical cliff next to the beach. Thus making it impossible to travel on anything but the debris and casually littered collection of junk on the white sand. "It appears as though we will have to travel on this strip for a while." He murmured quietly.

"Aw that's ok." Fuu ran a few steps forward and took hold of Mugen's hand, a warm smile on her face. He looked down at her with a questioning raise of his eyebrow. "Sand isn't so bad."

Aaaaaand end! Lol yeah! That's right! No sex seen whahahahahah -insert evil laugh. It's not that I'm not a fan of the stuff, --I'm actually quite addicted to the writing talents of Nora Robbers, who is well known for her award-winning and romantic and slightly pornographic novels. However, I believe that sex isn't something that should be done recreationally. It is a show of love, and since I have never been in requited love, or participated in the mattress-mumbo I didn't think I had it in me to make an expectable scene for these two. love from Plushi


	20. FanArt Alert REDONE

Dear Readers! I'm sorry this isn't another chapter, but there is good news! I made some Fanart for the fic. Originally, this was intended to be a scene somewhere in the story, but it got cut out due to a change in plot. I know links don' work on this format, so you can cut and paste these address into your web-browser:

My god I hate you I'm sorry readers, here, try this now.

To my Homepage first: Paintbrushplushi then type in deviantart. Add a 'com' after that.

Ps. Thanks to Kendra Luehr


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